Twist of fate
by Quitting Time
Summary: Two lives drastically affected by fate. Two people who don't realize how much each needs the other. But as fate can be kind as well as cruel, which they soon come to realize. A slightly AU Jori Story. Rated T for now, but that may change in later chapters.
1. Chance encounter

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone on else and not me.**

**Twist of fate**

**Chapter 1 – Chance encounter**

**A/N: this is Victorious pretty much as we know it, but I made a few major changes to the characters. They will become apparent very soon. One more thing, as an experiment, I'm trying to keep the chapters short. Between 900-1100 words on average.**

**No One's POV**

It was just after 7:30 in the morning, when the green minivan pulled up in front of Hollywood Art's high school. Being the first day of school, the place was buzzing with activity. Moments after the van pulled up, the side door slid open and a small ramp that was right behind it opened up. The figure that rolled down the ramp in her wheelchair immediately afterward was very excited for her first day of school.

David Vega got out of the driver's seat and went around to check to see, if his daughter had everything she needed.

"Tori you have your bag and all you need for your first day." He said with a slight nervous voice.

"I have everything daddy." Tori replied with a quick nod and a warm smile.

"Remember if you need any…" He started to say before Tori cut him off.

"I'll be fine daddy. They have full handicap access. Ramps, elevators the works. Don't worry."

"I'm your father, it's my job."

"And I love you for it Daddy. I appreciate you letting me do this."

David Vega looked at all the students walking to the famous performing art's high school then back to Tori. "It's incredible you made it in. Trina and your mom would be so proud."

The smile on Tori's face momentarily vanished, as she gave a rather sad nod. "I can imagine they would be." She said in a solemn voice.

David Vega, kissed his daughter on the cheek. "Well make them proud, make me proud. Remember, the service will pick you up right here after school."

Tori smiled and began to roll her chair to the front entrance. "I will. Thanks Daddy."

With a huge smile and a sense of bursting excitement Tori Vega rolled her wheel chair to the front entrance and up the ramp that was to be used by people in wheel chairs. As she did, she marveled at the various students playing instruments or in a few cases singing. The place was filled with talented people and Tori felt privileged to be there.

Rolling in the front entrance, she tried to remember where the main office was. Today was her first day and she needed to check in and get her final schedule. But she couldn't remember where it was. She had a tour some weeks ago when she was accepted, but had forgotten since.

"Oh Chiz. I can't remember where the office is." Tori muttered.

Figuring she would ask someone, she turned her attention to the nearest person. It was a Goth type looking girl. She was wearing, Black boots, leggings, a green skirt and black top with a leather Jacket. Her hair was Jet Black with a few strands of blue in them. One strand had fallen in front of the dark sunglasses she was wearing. The Goth was leaning against the wall, next to a trash can, calmly sipping her coffee. She appeared to be not looking at anything in particular and Tori guessed was thinking about something.

"Excuse me." Tori said with a slight shout. She had to as it was rather loud at the moment, with all the new students coming in the door.

The raven haired girl turned her head towards Tori, as rather distinct scowl appeared on her face. "And your reason for bugging me in the middle of my coffee is?" She said in a rather acid tone of voice.

Tori was taken for a moment by the woman's beauty. She had known for a while she like girls as well as guys, but her over protective father had kind of kept her from dating anyone.

"She's beautiful. God is she ever beautiful." Tori thought quickly, before she answered the girl.

Suddenly nervous in the raven haired girl's presence, Tori answered, but stammered. "Um…er…I'm New here and I don't know where the office is. Could you…If you don't mind point it out to me."

"Do I look like a signpost to you?" The raven haired Girl snapped.

"Well…um…No. I thought I would just ask." A now very nervous Tori, answered.

"Well you thought wrong little girl. Why don't you just run off and play hopscotch somewhere else." The Raven haired girl, said mockingly.

"Run off, does it look like I can run anywhere or play hopscotch?" An incensed Tori quickly thought, as her blood began to boil.

Tori hated getting mad, but being mocked for her paralysis was too much for her. "You could have just said, I'm busy, or please leave me alone. You didn't have to be such a fucking bitch about it. Asshole!" Tori shot back in a furious tone, before rolling off.

"Screw you." The Raven haired girl known as Jade said.

Jade then took the last drink of her coffee, reached down with the empty cup and dropped the cup in the trash can she was right next to.

"What's her fucking problem? Stupid wench gets all bent out of shape over a minor put down." Jade said, as she pulled out and unfolded a white cane from her bag.

Jade just huffed and with the cane moving back and forth in front of her, slowly made her way down the hallway.

**As you may have guessed, Tori is paralyzed and Jade is blind. Jade couldn't see Tori's wheel chair and with Jade's sunglasses, Tori didn't realize Jade was blind. **


	2. A little trip

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 2 – A little trip.**

**No One's POV.**

In a no better mood than she was in earlier, Jade sat in her 2nd hour English class waiting for it to start. All of a sudden she smelled the faint smell of familiar cologne and could hear the seat next to her being taken.

"Beck, there must be at least 5 other seats in the room. Why do you pick the one next to mine?" Jade said, sounding annoyed.

"Well Good morning to you Jade." Beck replied, in his normal disarming tone of voice.

"Typical man, can't answer a question. No wonder why I broke up with you."

Though unseen by Jade, Beck ran his hand through his hair. "Hey, I'm still your friend."

Jade let out a grunt. "Why don't you just give up like Andre and the others. Leave me alone."

Suddenly felt Beck's hand rest on hers. "Hey I still care about you."

"Don't touch me." Jade hissed, as she yanked her hand back.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. Look Jade. You have people that care about you. I'll say it again. I'm sorry that stroke robbed you of your sight. I know it changed things. But we just want to help you. But all you do is push people away." Jade could hear a note of concern in his voice which just annoyed further.

"I don't want any of your fucking help or pity." Jade snapped, just as the bell rang.

Beck said nothing and opened his book for class. But as he did, he couldn't help but feel bad for Jade. Blind just over a year, Jade had just gotten meaner and even bitterer. She seemed angry at the world. After it happened, he tried his best to be a supportive boyfriend.

But the more he tried to help, the worse she treated him. The more she pushed him away. But he didn't give up, at least until she broke up with him. Part of him wanted to keep trying but even he got tired of banging his head against the wall. The others, Andre, Robbie and Cat all had since given up on Jade. He was the only one that she even talked to anymore. But even those conversations were tense and short. It wasn't even about getting back with her, Beck had since started to date again, he just wanted to help her.

All he could do is sigh and hope that something would change.

Tori meanwhile was enjoying her first day. Though she had a moment of sadness, when she rolled past the dance studio. She could see the girls limbering up and getting ready. Of all the things Tori missed being able to do, was the ability to dance. Besides singing she loved to dance. She love watching people dance, ballet, ballroom, modern. She had hoped once to dance herself, but looking down at her useless legs she knew that was impossible.

She tried to pay no more mind to the mean girl who mocked her disability. But it did linger in her thoughts. "I can't believe her. Who would mock a person in a wheelchair. That is just beyond cruel." Tori fumed, as she made her way to the next class.

Jade ignored Beck during the rest of the class and made her way out without saying a word to him. She slowly made her way down the hallway to 3rd period. As she did, Ryder Daniels spotted her. Before Jade lost her sight, Ryder had drunkenly groped a then freshman Jade at a party. She then proceeded to beat him senseless in front of his friends. Ever since then he had wanted some kind of revenge, but had been unable as he had been studying abroad the last year.

Now back at Hollywood Arts, he saw a golden opportunity. With a devilish grin he patiently and quietly waited in the hallway, not moving until she was just about to pass him. Then he casually stuck out his foot and tripped Jade.

Before Jade knew it, she was falling forward. It was her worse fear, as not being able to see, you never quite know when you're going to it. She hit the floor on her side, with a thud and a surge of pain. Not only that her sunglass flew off her face.

"Oww…"

The spate of laughter she instantly heard was immediately recognizable.

"Daniels, you mother fucker. I'm going to kill you." Jade shrieked.

Ryder merely laughed again. "You have to find me first. Good luck doing that in the dark. Hey you're a Goth, you should love seeing black all the time. I'm going to love making your life hell." With that he grabbed her ass briefly and ran off.

The few other students that were still in the hallway who saw what was going on immediately scattered. Jade was already feared and now days, no one wanted to even tempt fate by even talking to her. Those few that wanted to help, her were too afraid to offer.

As a humiliated Jade got up on her knees, she suppressed the tears she wanted cry and grabbed her bag. But to her horror, she realized that it had burst open and spewed its contents all over the floor. Normally that would be merely inconvenient. For a blind person, that was a nightmare

The bell for classes suddenly rang, meaning she was late. "Dam!" Jade said as her tears escaped their confinement and ran down her face.

Tori had gotten lost on her way to 3rd period having gone down wrong hallway. Now she was heading to class, late, when she spotted the mean girl further up the hallway.

The girl was on the floor and appeared to be picking things up. There were some papers, makeup items and what appeared an iPod on the floor. Tori was going to ignore the horrible girl and turn down the hallway to her class when she noticed something.

Jade was feeling around on the floor. She wasn't just picking the things up she was feeling the floor and when her hands would touch something she's stuff it in her bag. Tori noticed another thing, she was quietly crying. Something was wrong.

As horribly insulted as she was by that girl, Tori's curiosity and compassion got the best of her. Tori kept doing down the hallway towards Jade.

**I'm so glad everyone is liking the story. Thanks for the nice reviews. As I said, I'm keeping the chapters short as an experiment. **


	3. 2nd Time around

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 3 - 2****nd**** time around.**

**No One's POV**

Jade was beginning to get frantic. She found all she had in her bag, except her Ipod and favorite pair of scissors. Not to mention, she couldn't find her sunglasses. As tough as she was, she couldn't help but cry. She felt so helpless.

She just kept feeling around but couldn't find them. But between her crying and concentrating on the search, she hadn't heard the sound of Tori's wheel chair coming up behind her.

Tori watched for a moment trying to figure out what she was seeing. Tori started to think. "Her ipod is right here, why doesn't she…"

The realization hit her like a bolt of lightning. "OH my god, you're blind." Tori blurted out.

What was worse to Jade, than crying and feeling helpless, was someone seeing her like that. "Go AWAY!" Jade shouted through the tears.

Tori knew what the girl was feeling and didn't move. "You're iPod is about 2 feet to your left." Tori said in a calm voice.

Jade quickly reached in that direction along the floor and her hands came in contact with the device. She hurriedly shoved it in her bag. "You played good Samaritan, now pat yourself on the back and leave me alone." From the sound of the voice, Jade realized it was the same girl that called her a bitch earlier. Though more attached to her scissors, she didn't want to lose the iPod either, it was a special one for the use of the blind.

"I just want to help."

Jade looked at her with sightless eyes. They were a beautiful blue green, which made Tori's heart beat faster. "I don't want any help. I just want to find my scissors, my glasses and go home. "

"Sometimes people do need help." Tori said, as she inched to within a foot of Jade.

Jade's face seem to darken. "What do you know about that or is all you know how to do is call people bitch." However just as she said it, Jade moved her arm out and instead of coming into contact with a leg, it hit something hard.

Not knowing what it was, she moved her hand and felt. She was touching something rubber, then she moved her hand a bit and realized there was a some kind of large wheel.

"A wheel? What?" Jade said, confused.

"I know more about that, than you think." Tori said, with a visible note of sadness to her voice.

Jade felt more and suddenly realized the girl was in a wheelchair.

Jade was shocked. "You're in a wheelchair." Jade then paused for a moment as she thought. "No you can't be, you're fucking with me!" Jade suddenly spat out, through the tears.

Tori was hurt that she didn't believe her. "No, I'm not kidding. If you don't believe me, ask Lane or Principal Helen. They will verify that I am indeed confined to a wheel chair. Believe me, I wish it were not the case."

"Paralyzed?"

"Yes, I'm paralyzed from the waist down. I'm sorry I called you bitch earlier. I didn't realize you were blind. You couldn't have known. I thought you were mocking my disability. Though frankly I hate the word disabled. I'm a normal person who just can't walk. Disabled implies, at least to some people, that you're less than a person."

Jade though angry, bitter and mean would never mock someone's disability. She in fact was very sensitive about having her blindness mocked, as Ryder Daniels had done just before.

Wiping a tear. "I'm sorry I said that. I didn't know."

"It's ok."

"I'm Jade, Jade West." The Goth said as she cautiously extended her hand.

"I'm Victoria Vega. But my friends call me Tori. Pleased to meet you." Jade couldn't help but feel, that the girl shook her hand just a fraction longer than the time of a normal handshake.

"Jade, I see your sunglasses, what else are you missing?"

"Um…my scissors. I like scissors. I always carry a pair." A no longer crying Jade said, after a second of hesitation. She was extremely reluctant to accept the girl's help, but Jade knew this girl understood what it was like.

"Well your glasses are at about the 11 o'clock position about 4 feet away." Hearing that, Jade immediately moved along the floor and found her glasses. Once back on her face, Jade felt much better.

"Found em…Your scissors." Tori called out.

"Where?"

"They skidded about 12 feet and are currently sitting underneath the A/V cart that's next to the wall. There I can't reach them, but I'll roll over to it and you can follow the sound of my voice."

Tori rolled her chair over to the cart and said. "OK, Jade. I'm next to the cart. Just follow my voice."

Jade got up and followed the sound of Tori's voice to the metal cart. Feeling down on the floor under it, her fingers came into contact with the blades of her favorite item. She immediately pulled it out and held it to her chest.

Jade stood there for a moment and in a low tone of voice said. "Thank you. I don't think I ever would have found them. This is my favorite pair. I'd hate to lose them."

"You're welcome Jade. I was glad to help. Again I'm sorry for the misunderstanding earlier."

Jade shoved the scissors in her bag, stood up and put her cane out in front of her. To Tori she appeared for a moment as if she didn't quite know what to say. The atmosphere suddenly became very awkward.

"Well Jade, I need to get to class. Bye." Tori said as she started to roll off.

Tori hoped Jade would say something but she seemed not to. But just as she was about to turn the corner Tori could hear Jade say.

"See you round Vega. At least in a manner of speaking."


	4. The Bird

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of Fate **

**Chapter 4 – The bird**

**POV**

For some strange reason, lunch made Tori more nervous than anything. All the groups of friends sitting at various tables and here she was, new with no real friends. Having rolled out onto the asphalt café she went to the lunch truck and got her tray. Her own wheelchair had a fold out tray which served as her desk in class. At lunch she placed her lunch tray on it and tried to find a place to sit.

After a moment of indecision, she spotted Jade sitting alone at a table off to the side eating her lunch. A few more moments of observation told Tori the other students seemed to avoid going near that table. Tori thought for a moment and though this girl wasn't a friend, she was the only person she knew.

Jade was eating her lunch and through the roar of the crowd she picked up the sound of a small squeak coming towards her. It surprised Tori to see Jade look up as she approached. She realized a second later, that Jade must have heard her approach.

"Hello Jade." Tori said with a hint of trepidation in her voice.

Across the asphalt café, a number of people noticed someone talking to Jade at lunch. Since she had lost her sight, that was a very unwise thing to do. The blind Goth was prone to bursts of anger, when disturbed at lunch.

"I like to eat alone, No offense Tori." Jade said in a low calm voice. While the intrusion of the Tori was not all that welcome, Jade strangely wasn't bothered by it all that much.

"OK, that's fine. Have a good lunch." Tori said.

It was the sound of disappointment in Tori's voice that got to Jade. It bothered her, for reasons she didn't quite understand. For Jade, beneath the substantial anger, there was a deep well of loneliness. She didn't want to admit it, but was there. Tori's voice sent a small ripple through that pool. One that Jade found herself unable to ignore.

Tori had rolled away about 7 feet when she suddenly heard Jade call out. "Vega. Come back."

Unseen by Jade, Tori grinned. Though Jade half guessed the girl might be smiling.

Tori rolled up, pushed a chair out of the way and rolled in next to the table, than sat her tray on it. "Thank you. You really don't mind?"

"If I minded Vega, I wouldn't have asked you back." An annoyed sounding Jade, said quickly.

There was an awkward silence for a few minutes as the pair started to eat. It was as if, neither one knew what to say. After about 3 minutes Tori noticed something.

"I'm getting some odd looks? It's like they haven't seen someone in a wheel chair before."

Jade smirked, "It's not that. It's because you're the first person I've allowed to sit here in a year. Now they're wondering how long I'll you'll last at this table."

Tori thought for a second. "What will cause me not to last here?"

Jade took a bite of her salad. "You'll have to find that out. Tell me, I'll bet one table in particular is paying attention. There will be a girl with very red hair, an African American teen, a curly haired boy with a creepy puppet and a handsome looking guy with probably a dumb look on his face."

Tori turned her head to notice they were all looking at her with very surprised expressions. "Yep, they're all looking at me. "

Jade chuckled. "You know the worst part of being blind. It's not knowing which direction to flip the bird. If you flip the bird and aim it wrong, you look like an idiot. If there talking loud enough it's easy to aim. But in a situation like this, it's nearly impossible. "

Tori took a drink. "From your position they are at about 3 o'clock about 20 yards away."

Jade raised the middle finger in the direction of the other table and shot Tori a smile. "Thank You, I've been wanting to do that for months."

"People you don't like?" Tori said as she glanced that the other group. They looked mildly insulted, but not too broken up about it.

"No, my friends actually. After lunch, they'll probably want to talk to you. Find out what you did to sit where they can't. You'll probably like them."

Tori half thought to ask why they couldn't sit with her, but decided against it. Tori suspected that the wrong thing said, would quickly get her ejected from the table. She very much wanted to stay there.

At this point their conversation was interrupted by what Tori thought, was an odd looking homeless man.

"Jade, I've noticed you didn't sign up for my class again. " He said, looking disappointed.

Jade waived her hand in front of her face. "I'm blind remember"

"You were one of my best students freshman year and was hoping you would join my class anyway. Stop using that as a crutch. You're still a dam good actress."

Jade just sat there, as if she were deciding what to say.

"That's why I took the liberty of changing your class schedule. I dropped your advanced English class and added mine to your schedule."

"WHAT? You can't do that." Jade spat out quickly.

"I can and I did." Then he turned to Tori. "Who are you and are you in my class?"

"I'm Tori Vega. No, I didn't take you class. I'm sorry." Tori said, with nervous squeak to her voice.

"They why not?" He said with a hurt look.

Tori suddenly felt even more nervous. She liked acting but was afraid that her disability my limit her. Much the same fear Jade had. "I just wasn't sure what I could do."

"What do you have 5th Hour?"

"Art history with Mr. Banner." Tori answered quickly.

Sikowitz waived his hand in front of him, with a confident look. "No you don't, you now have my class. I'll take the liberty of changing it for you. Believe me, I did you a favor, he's boring as hell. No need to thank me."

With that, he took a coconut out of his pocket, took a sip from it and walked off.

"What just happened?" Said a stunned looking Tori.

Jade just shook her head. "Sikowitz."

**Authors Note: A useless factoid, In Los Angeles there is actually an entire theatre troop consisting of blind actors. It's called "Theatre by the Blind." So even for a person like Jade there are opportunities.**


	5. New Friends

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 5 – New friends.**

**Tori's POV**

"Sikowitz?" I said, still trying to figure out what just hit me.

"He's the drama teacher here. He's good, but they say he's got a screw lose. Actually, I think he's actually missing several of them."

"I hope it's a fun class. Now that I've been shanghaied into taking it."

"Don't worry Vega, you won't be bored, that's for sure." Jade said with a confident tone.

No one's ever called me Vega before. I'm not sure what to make of it. "Why do you keep calling me Vega?"

Jade shrugged. "Cause I want to. You shouldn't feel insulted. It's the 2nd brightest star in the sky. I remember seeing it though my father's telescope."

I had been afraid to bring up the subject of what caused her blindess. "You weren't always blind?"

Jade lowered her head and in a low tone of voice answered. "No."

I couldn't help but think back to that horrible day when I woke in the hospital. The very worst day of my entire life. After a moment's pause I responded in a quiet voice. "I wasn't always in this thing."

"Suck's doesn't it." Jade said in a matter of fact tone of voice.

Though unseen by Jade, I nodded. "Yeah, it does."

I suddenly sensed Jade had no further desire to speak of what had happened to her. Frankly I didn't want to speak of it either. We both sat there quietly for a moment, and then returned to eating. Neither of us would say anything for several minutes.

As we ate, I noticed that Jade seemed to be eating faster and faster. Within a few minutes her tray was empty while, mine was still half full.

Jade then abruptly got up, unfolded her cane and grabbed her tray. "I got to go. Later Vega." With that Jade moved off, Tray in one hand, and cane in the other.

It was as if suddenly Jade couldn't get away from me fast enough. I just sat there wondering what if anything I had done wrong. I'll admit my feelings were hurt, though I shouldn't let this get to me.

After a moment I happened to glance at the other table, the one where Jade's friends sat. Much to my surprise, the African American boy motioned for me to come over. Wanting to be sure I pointed at myself and he nodded. He didn't look angry, but I was with Jade and she did flip them off.

A bit apprehensive but curious, I grabbed my lunch tray; put it on fold out tray my wheelchair has and rolled over.

The group appeared to study me as I approached but I didn't get hostile vibe. They seemed merely curious. "Uh…Hi." I said, still feeling nervous and awkward.

The handsome guy who was closest moved his chair aside to make room. "Please join us. We don't bite."

"Jade does." Said Robbie looking at his hand.

"Robbie that was just one time and you know Jade doesn't like to be touched. Especially where you touched her." Replied the red haired girl.

"Never mind that." Said African American boy.

Beck rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. "Please join us. You're new here aren't you?"

They seemed welcoming and that allowed me to relax. "I'm Victoria Vega, but everyone calls me Tori."

The handsome guy pointed to himself. "I'm Beck Oliver. The girl with Red hair is Cat Valentine, to my right is Andre Harris and across from me is Robbie Shapiro."

At that moment dummy spoke up. "Of course forget me."

"I wish I could." Andre could hear be half heard, mumbling under his breath.

Beck groaned. "That's Rex Powers."

I said hello to each of them and in turn they said hello back. Though I could have sworn, the creepy doll winked at me.

"Ooooh…I love your chair. I should bring my own too. That's such a good idea. My desk chair has flowers on it." Cat immediately said with a goofy smile.

She shocked look on my face must have been obvious

Robbie shook his head, Andre did a face palm and Beck shot Cat a disapproving look. "Cat, unless I'm mistaken Tori can't walk and needs to use a wheelchair." Beck said in scolding Tone.

Her eyes lit up as if she suddenly got it. "Ohhh….I'm sorry."

Beck whispered in my ear. "She's as sweet as pie, but is a bit dim at times. I assure you, she meant nothing by it."

"No worries." I said quickly, realizing Cat's comment, wasn't meant to be insulting.

"So how did you manage to sit with Jade?" Robbie asked.

Beck shot back. "Robbie, you're as bad as Cat. Let's get to know Tori first. before we start asking questions."

I'll have to admit Beck's pretty good looking. As much as I like Jade, I need to keep my options open.

I waived my hand quickly. "No..No..That's alright."

With an embarrassed look, Beck turned to me. "I'm Sorry Tori. It appears we are not making a good first impression."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Me and Jade didn't make the best of first impressions either. I wound up calling her a bitch. That and I called her an asshole."

"See dummies, all you idiots want to be nice to Jade. Just call her a bitch and you're in like Flynn. That's what I've been telling you all along." Rex said, sounding rather smug.

"Not helpful Rex." Andre said.

"Believe it or not, we are Jade's friends and are concerned for her welfare. We saw you there alone and thought we'd invite you over and meet you."

They were an odd group alright, but I sensed they were honestly being friendly. It felt good having some people that were interested in getting to know me. Jade thought fascinating and beautiful, may never let me in. I decided to give them a chance.

I put my tray on the table and began to eat. "We'll here's the story."

**Well Tori has met the group and though they left a bad first impression, some new friendships have been born. More to come.**


	6. The Silence

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of fate**

**Chapter 6 - The silence**

**Tori's POV**

To their rapt attention, I told them the story. How Jade and I met, the 2nd encounter and lunch. I did however, leave out one particular detail. I didn't mention that Jade was crying in the hallway. Somehow, I felt that was a very private moment for her. Though I can't say I have any reason to show loyalty to someone I just met, I more than understand her pain.

After that, they all seemed happy that someone my just be succeeding at bringing Jade out of her self-imposed isolation.

"I just ate lunch and she left early, so don't send out the wedding invitations quite yet." I joked. Jade's hot, I can dream can't I.

They all suddenly burst out laughing, but I noticed that Beck didn't seem to find it as funny as the rest. I wonder if they had a history.

Not wanting to dwell on Jade for the remainder of lunch I changed the subject and got to know them. They were all fun. I found out that Andre and I are in the same music theory class 7th hour and have many similar music tastes. Once I got to know Cat a bit, I found her to be very nice. I told them of course that I wanted to be a singer.

As I expected, asked me about my condition. The only one so far that didn't was Jade.

It was Cat who actually asked. "So what happened to your legs?

I paused for a moment then with a sad look I answered. "It was a car accident." I could only pray they don't ask me more about it. I don't like telling the story. It's much too painful for me.

Cat nodded and followed up her question with another. "They won't get better?"

I shook my head. "No."

I think Beck sensed my discomfort and he quickly changed the subject. "You know Tori, we're going to Nozu for dinner tomorrow you should join us. It's got good food. Inside, I breathed a sigh of relief that I didn't have to go into any further detail about the accident. I was most grateful that he did.

By the end of lunch, I felt confident I had several new friends. On top of that, I found they were all in Sikowitz's class that was right after lunch.

As lunch ended, the group broke up but Beck seemed to stay behind with me. As the others went out of earshot, he turned to me as we moved to the school.

"I just want to thank you for at least helping to get through to Jade. Lord knows I've tried." He sounded frustrated, as he said it.

"You and her?"

He nodded. "Not any more. After she lost her sight, she grew very bitter and angry. I tried to help her cope. The more I tried, the more she seemed to resist. One day she said, I don't love you, I don't want your help, just stay away."

The next was a question I needed to ask. "You want her back?"

He sighed. "No, not anymore. Even before this, I sensed that her and I maybe weren't made for each other. I still care about her of course. I do appreciate your efforts. "

Even after getting dumped, he cares about her. Not many men would still care. He's a rare specimen indeed. But comparing the two; I'd say Jade was even rarer, if not one of a kind.

"Though, I'm not blind, I'm fully aware of how it feels to wake up in the hospital and find your entire world has been shattered. I thought we were having a decent lunch, but suddenly she just seemed to bolt"

Beck ran his hand through his hair. "I saw that, she's not used to being around people. Don't be offended if she stays away from you. She may not talk to you again. I'm not trying to discourage you, but merely telling you to not get your hopes up too high."

"I'll keep that in mind."

We went to Sikowitz's class and I parked my chair next to Cat, near the front row. If I had to roll up on stage, at least I wouldn't have to go very far. At least there was a small ramp. As I waited for class to start, I looked for Jade, but she wasn't there. Just as the bell was about to ring, I saw her come into class, with her cane in front of her. I was tempted to call out to her, but she had a dour look on her face so I let it go. She seemed to pause behind the back row of chairs and went to the far end.

Some girl was sitting in that seat, but Jade just tapped her on the shoulder with her cane.

"Um…I'm sitting here." The girl said, sounding annoyed.

Jade said nothing and kept tapping her cane on the girl's shoulder, though just a bit faster.

"Fine!" The girl said with a huff as she got up and moved. Jade then sat down in the now vacated seat and crossed her arms.

The bell suddenly rang and Sikowitz came in through the window. Judging by the lack of surprised looks from the class, this had happened before. He then pulled out another cocoanut from his pocket and took a long sip

"Welcome to my class. Before I start, I'll welcome the two students how graciously volunteered to join our class. Tori Vega and Jade West."

"NO we didn't!" Snapped Jade.

"You say you were volunteered, I say you volunteered. It's all a matter of semantics. But anyhow. What is acting, anyway? Well, In the words of Lawrence Olivier.

At this point, a bleach blonde bimbo looking type with long pink fingernails, raised her hand. "Uh...Who's Lawerence Oliver." She said, with a loud crack of her gum.

Sikotwitz stood there motionless, other than the odd twitch of his left eye. He then pointed to the corner and looked at the girl. "You, go stand in the corner."

The girl frowned and immediately complied.

Well for anyone who does know who he is, he was quoted as saying.

"Acting is illusion, as much illusion as magic is, and not so much a matter of being real."

He paused, paused and spread his arm's "And here, is where we make the illusion come alive."

Sikowitz, went on to lecture about acting for about a half an hour, when he suddenly stopped in mid sentence and shouted.

"You're all ducks, who are freaking out because someone's spiked your water with LSD. GO…"

After a split second of nothing the class jumped out of their chairs, flapped their arms and waddled in maniacal fashion. Jade did so, though being blind, and collided with several students, knocking them over. I'd swear by the slight smirk on her face, she was enjoying it.

I raised my hand. "I can't waddle."

Sikowitz nodded. "I'm not a sex addicted, cross dressing neurosurgeon, but that didn't stop me from playing one on Law and Order SVU. If you can't do, than act."

I decided to get into it and kind of rocked my chair back and forth a bit as I slowly rolled around in random fashion. I did at one point accidently rolled over some guy's foot.

"Ow…that was my foot you just rolled over." He said loudly as I backed off.

"Sorry." As I apologized, I could have sworn I saw jade actually smile for a second. After a few more seconds of duck chaos, he said. "OK, you're all attentive students who are quietly watching me lecture."

As soon as class was done, Jade was out of there like a shot. I felt a pang of disappointment as I watched her leave. But my spirits were lifted when Andre graciously volunteered to push me to my next class. I'm more than capable of rolling myself, but it's nice to get a break.

The rest of the afternoon went great. I had several of my new friends in various classes. They were even in some of my morning classes, but I didn't know them then. Jade was in my last class of the day; algebra.

As before, she came in just before the bell rang and took the seat in the far back corner. This time the seat was empty, though if it hadn't I'm sure she would have just made the person sitting there leave.

I left school at the end of the day feeling really good. I had made some new friends and one acquaintance. I can't label Jade as a friend quiet yet.

I saw her as I waited for the service to pick me up. She came out of the school and sat on the steps. A few moments later a large black luxury sedan rolled up and a older man got out. He called to Jade and opened the rear door. Jade without saying a word got in the back of the car. The man then closed the door, got in the drivers seat and the car then glided off.

The service that my dad paid to pick me up arrived a few minutes later. He wouldn't get off of duty from the police station until at least 8 pm, so the service was needed. The van pulled up to the curb and once the ramp was down I got in. I was excited by my first day, very excited. I had been very nervous about all of it and they day had gone so well.

I got home a little after five and entered the house. It was the silence that I first noticed. As I strained my ears, all I could hear was the quiet hum of the refrigerator.

For a moment I looked out over the family room and the kitchen beyond, imagining them as they once were. Trina sitting on the couch watching some reality show or the latest music video. She'd then say how her music video's when she would be a star, would be so much better. My mom having gotten home from work would be standing in the kitchen starting dinner. While my sister would ignore me, my mom would flash me a smile and ask how my first day of school went. I pictured myself rolling my chair over and helping my mom with dinner while I excitedly talked about my first day of school.

But as always, I let the image go and they just fade away. Once again, with a heavy heart, I'm back to an empty and quiet house. It's not that I can't walk that truly gets to me.

It's the silence.

**What do you think, I decided to at least temporatly abandon my experment and go with a longer chapter. I started to feel that the shorter chapters were hindering my story telling. I think that some of the the chapters will be short, but if i need to they will be longer.**

**The quote attribued to Lawrence Olivier is indeed a quote by him. **


	7. The Orange

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 7 – The orange.**

**Tori's POV**

After making some dinner for myself, a salad, I took the wheelchair lift up and went to my room. I wanted to get off on the right off foot and study. Having that done, I was on my bed watching TV when my father arrived home a little after 8:30.

He appeared in the doorway with a smile. "Hey Tori, how was your first day?

I smiled back. "It was good. I liked my classes, though I was talked into taking a drama class instead of art history. It looks to be a fun one."

"Who talked you into it?" He said looking puzzled.

"The drama teacher, Mr. Sikowitz. I like his class. The rest of the day was good and I met some new friends. They invited me out tomorrow night to go to Nozu."

His smile vanished as I expected and was replaced with a look of concern. A look I've grown very tired of. "You just met them. I want to know all their names."

I was having such a good day. My father means well, but his overprotectiveness is stifling. "What, so you can run background checks on them?" I snapped, letting some resentment float to the surface.

My father took a step into the room. "Look Tori, I won't apologize for watching over you. You need to understand, you're all that I have left."

I suddenly felt a surge of guilt, this was an argument we've had had lots of times before. "I'm sorry; I just wanted to go out."

My father took a deep breath and exhaled "Tell you what. You give me one name and your back by 9 pm. But I want to meet your new friends sometime in the next few weeks. You can invite them over and I'll toss some steaks on the grill. Sound good."

I nodded. "That's fine. There is one other person I met."

"Who?"

"Her name is Jade. It was a misunderstanding at first. I thought she mocked my being in a wheelchair, but I didn't realize she's blind. She seems to be having a hard time adjusting to her recent blindness."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"So am I. She could be a friend eventually. I'm not sure."

My dad shrugged. "Well give her a chance, but you may need to let her come to you."

"I plan to."

The next day at school, I saw Jade at her locker when I arrived. I made a point to roll up to her. She must have heard my chair coming, as she looked up.

"Good morning Jade." I said in a cheerful tone of voice.

She paused for a moment. I wish she wasn't wearing those large aviator sunglasses she always wears. I could get an idea what she was thinking.

"Oh…Hi Vega. I…I…Need to get going." She said quickly, as she slammed her locker shut and moved off. For a moment sound sounded almost nervous.

Cat who had seen me, walked up and put her hand on my shoulder. "At least you tried. I don't think she even knows how to deal with people anymore."

"Thanks Cat."

I didn't see much of Jade in the morning. Again at lunch she was at her table. Wanting to try again, I rolled up my chair. She must have heard the slight squeak of my chair, because she looked up at me. She appeared to be reading a braille book of some kind.

"Mind if I join you?"

She looked at me for a moment and shook her head. "Sorry, I'm kind of really into reading this book. No offense." She said quietly.

"None taken. I met your friends, they are very nice. I'll see later."

Jade didn't say anything. She just nodded and went back to her book. I then went and joined my new friends. The same cycle repeated for the next week. I'd greet Jade or even sit next to her in class, but she would politely rebuff my attempts to speak with her. There was one strange incident; I heard from another student that she had fallen again. I asked around and found a witness. That person told me, some goon named Ryder Daniels had tripped her. Apparently she had kicked his ass a little while back and he's been wanting revenge ever since.

Daniel's is apparently wealthy and people are afraid of his big time lawyer father, I also learned. But I'm not. I guessed a person like Jade from what I've learned, would never ask for help or tell on him. But while Jade can't see him, I just can.

I had a plan in mind, I just needed to know what he looked like.

"Who's Ryder Daniels?" I asked the next day at lunch.

"A creep." Said Cat quickly.

"I gathered that, but what does he look like."

Andre nudged me. "He's over there at that table." I looked over and saw a handsome looking brown-haired teen sitting with a few guys. Too bad he's a creep, as he's pretty good-looking.

Beck raised an eyebrow. "What are you going to do?".

I smiled. "Having useless legs, I've gotten very good at using my arms. That and me playing wheelchair basketball." I then pulled an orange out of my bag, that I had brought for just the occasion.

"Watch the birdie." I said with a cheerful smile.

Cat pointed quickly. "But that's an orange."

I groaned. "It's a figure of speech. Just watch."

Fortunately he wasn't too far off and I was confident I could make the shot. I carefully took aim and lobbed it.

The orange sailed in a lazy arc and landed smack dab in the middle of his lunch tray, sending a bowl of hot steaming chili right into his lap. He leapt up out of his chair as if he were on fire.

"Arrgh…that hurt's." He screeched. "Who did that!" He yelled even louder.

I grinned with pride. "Bingo! I may not be able to walk, but my aim is deadly." Actually I hoped to hit him, but my miss turned out to be perfect. The front of his pants was covered with brown chili. It actually looked as if, he had some terrible accident in the bathroom.

The rest of my table all smiled. At the same time, there was a roar of laughter from the people around the asphalt café.

Daniels turned red with anger as he brushed off the chili that was all over his pants. He stormed over to Jade's table. "You did this!" He yelled out.

Jade smirked. "Did what? You may have not noticed but I'm blind."

Daniels just seemed to rage, as he held up the offending piece of citrus. "Threw this orange at me and sent my chili into my lap."

Jade leaned back into her chair and removed her glasses. She looked very amused. "And how would I do that? Me blind as a bat, throw an orange and happened to land it right on your chili. Though I can't see it, you must really be dumber than you look."

That got another round of laughter from the café and only made Daniels more mad.

He took a step forward towards her, when I yelled out. "Hey! It's obvious she didn't throw it. But if you touch her, I won't hesitate for one second to report you for assault. Or do you like beating up blind girls."

A sudden hush fell over the asphalt café, as he seemed to instantly glare at me. Daniels seemed to stew in his juices for a moment, then he threw the orange to the ground, screamed in frustration and stormed off. Several students took the opportunity to laugh at him once again. He had been thoroughly humiliated.

Jade smirked for a moment more, than returned to her book as if nothing had happened. But I did notice a bit of spring in her step as she left the asphalt café when she left later.

"Who's been teaching you to throw, Dwyane Wade." Andre said with a laugh. "or have you been teaching him?"

"Wheelchair basketball league. I play Thursday nights. It was my dad's idea. I hated it at first, but it keeps me fit and my arms strong."

"Good Shot Tori." Robbie said, looking very impressed.

"Nice one. Though I'd say watch your back." Beck said cautiously.

"I will, but if she so much as touches me, my father will kill him." That's very true.

Cat just grinned and gave me a high five.

Though Jade appears to have enjoyed the show, so to speak. She still seemed distant to me as the day went on.

The next two days were no different and by this point, I was just leaving her alone. Even if Jade never spoke to me again, I needed to throw that orange. It was a blow for disabled people everywhere, which needed to be struck.

I had been at school almost two weeks when an announcement came over the speakers, just after the bell rang for 1st hour. It had been 3 days since, what was forever known as the "Orange incident."

_"We will be having a surprise assembly today, after lunch during 5th and 6th hours. All students are required to attend. Todays, guest will be renowned motivational speaker, Matt Foley. The title of his presentation will be, "Putting the world in your pocket."_

I hadn't heard of the guy and the thought of sitting in the auditorium listening to some person telling me how to improve my life wasn't too thrilling. But it's not like I had any choice in the matter.

After lunch hour I, like all the other students, made my way towards the large auditorium. Looking at the faces of the others, they looked about as thrilled to go as I was.

As I came to the door of the auditorium that I needed to enter to get to the spot where I could park my wheelchair, I spotted Jade. She was leaning up against the wall her head tilted back. I wasn't sure if I should say anything. I hadn't said anything to her in a few days.

As I got up to her she moved her cane up and directly in front of me. I stopped, with it right in front of my chest.

"You're wheel chair has a slight squeak. Do not oil it." Jade said, as she handed me the cane. "Hold this."

I looked at her puzzled as she moved away from the wall and felt around my wheel chair until she got to the handles in the back. Without saying another word, she turned me around and began to slowly wheel me away from the auditorium.

"When we come to the stairs, please let me know. I'd hate to send you flying down them." Jade said causally.

"We're going the wrong way?" I pointed out.

"No we're not."

"But the auditorium is behind us."

"Yes Vega, that is correct. Give yourself a gold star." Jade said cynically.

I had a sinking feeling. Maybe she was mad I messed with Daniels. "Uh…where are you taking me."

"Someplace more fun than, a stupid motivational speaker. We're making a jailbreak."

**What does Jade have in mind? Is she finally going to open up? You'll find out soon.**


	8. The Mall - Part 1

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of fate**

**Chapter 8 – The mall – Part 1**

**No One's POV**

"Where are you taking me?" Tori asked, as they neared the stairs.

"I don't know…I figure we'll go this way, until I hit something." Jade said sarcastically.

Tori couldn't help but notice, she was being wheeled straight for the stairs. "Or fall down the stairs…..which will happen in about 30 seconds."

Jade immediately stopped and moved the chair to the right. "I believe the little elevator for wheel chairs is this way."

"Yes, just a bit more to the right and just a bit ahead.

A few minutes later, with Tori's guidance, the pair was now outside the front of the school.

"OK, Vega, point me to the bus stop. Unless you have a car. Mine's at home. My dad says I should sell it. I told him no."

"Uh…It's to our left about 20 yards down the sidewalk. Why may I ask you still keep your car?"

Jade started to roll Tori up the sidewalk. "Because it makes it that much easier to run people down. Besides, it's my car and I'll be damned if I give it up."

"But you can't drive it."

Jade stopped and moved around the front of the chair. With an angry expression on her face, she dug through her bag and pulled out her wallet. Opening it, she revealed, a driver's license. See, a fully valid driver's license. I can drive just fine, I just happen to hit and run things over a lot."

Tori rolled her eyes, thankful that Jade couldn't see her. "Nice of you to not inform the DMV, that you can no longer see."

Jade shoved the wallet back in her back. "Let them figure that out."

By this point, they reached the bus stop and began to wait. "We will need the number 57 bus. Please let me know when it comes"

"Ok Jade, Where is that particular bus going? Dare I ask?"

"The mall. Which is a considerable improvement over this place."

Tori was a bit nervous about leaving school. She knew her overprotective father would not be pleased to learn she had skipped school to go to the mall, with someone he hadn't met. But at the same time she was pleased to be with Jade. It gave her a strange giddy feeling, which she found herself rather enjoying. Jade on the other hand leaned against the wheel chair.

Though Tori quickly noticed, frequently when Jade would hear someone walk by on the sidewalk she would "Stare" at them. Actually, she would intently gaze in the direction of the sound of the footsteps.

As they waited, some old woman walked by who looked to be bundled up like it was 20 degrees outside. In fact, Tori thought it was a very warm day. Jade fixed her sightless gaze on the woman and kept staring at the woman, as she walked past. The old woman seemed to grow visibly nervous and eventually stopped.

"What on earth are you staring at young lady!" The woman quickly snapped. "Don't you know it's rude to stare at people?"

Jade instantly burst out laughing and shrugged. "Hey, I like to mentally undress people. It's what I do. I can't believe those boobs sag all the way down to your snatch?"

Tori couldn't believe what she was hearing, she was terribly embarrassed. The woman just gazed at Jade in horror and for a second looked like she was going to have a heart attack. "You young people have no manners. No wonder the world is going to pot." The woman said, as she scolded Jade with a wave of her finger. Having said her peace, the woman lifted her chin and walked away.

As the woman vanished down the street, Jade just kept laughing. "Oh my god, that was priceless."

Terribly embarrassed, Tori was half tempted to head back into school. Not wanting to leave Jade however, she lightly scolded her instead.

"That wasn't very nice Jade."

"And your point is?" At this point a bus rolled up to the stop. "Ahh…Save by the bus. Tell me miss Vega is this ours?"

"Yes it is."

Tori moved to the wheel chair entrance of the bus with Jade holding on to the rear handle, letting Tori guide her. Within a minute they were on the bus. Tori guided Jade to a seat next to the wheel chair space. "Bus fares on me."

Having paid, Tori moved back next to Jade as the bus pulled away from the curb. Jade leaned her head back, saying nothing for at least 3 blocks.

"Why did you throw that orange at Ryder?" Tori could detect a hint of annoyance in her voice, as she said it.

"Who said I did?" Tori still was unsure if Jade was mad or not about the orange incident.

"I did."

"How do you know I threw that orange? Anyone could have thrown it." Tori said defensively.

Jade continued to look straight ahead. "A person that did that would have be either very brave or very stupid. I figured it had to the same brave soul that tried to eat at my table. That and you stood up to him. Nobody does that. But that brings me to my original question. Why did you do it?"

Unseen by Jade Tori began to blush. Her primary reason was that she hated that someone tripped the woman she had a huge crush on.

Tori decided to go with the partial truth. "Ok…I threw it. I heard he tripped you. Only a lowlife would do that to a special needs person. He needed to be taught a lesson. I did it in a way that couldn't possibly implicate you.

Tori looked at Jade to try and gauge her reaction. Jade tilted her head back and appeared to be thinking.

"So I need defending, is that what you're saying." Jade said acidly.

Tori didn't back down. "I didn't say that. He was a prick who not only messed with a special needs person, but someone I happen to know. I couldn't let that slide. I've been teased about my condition. I've had people take my lunch and hold it up out of my reach. It's humiliating and I hate it. I guessed that he did that on the first day as well. I saw you crying. I've cried those same tears."

Jade remained silent for another block, before responding. "Thank you." She said in a quiet and sincere voice.

"Your welcome."

There was an awkward silence for the 10 minutes before they arrived at the mall. When it was announced over the loudspeaker, Jade stood up and put her hand on Tori's wheelchair. As the bus came to halt, they moved to the wheelchair ramp and got off.

"The entrance to the mall is to the left up the sidewalk. Just hold on to my chair and I'll guide you.

Again the awkward silence returned, as they made their way up to the doors and into the mall. It was midday on a week day so the mall itself wasn't very crowded.

"Any stores you want' to go into in particular?" Tori asked. Though she guessed that they probably wouldn't shop in the same stores.

Jade was trying to think of something to say. Since her losing her sight, she had cut herself off from others and found it hard to work her way back. Though she had no idea what Tori looked like, she did have a good feeling about her. Maybe it was her voice, or the way her hair smelled or the fact that she stood up for her.

"Hot topic. The CD store, I forget its name."

Tori knew the both store's Jade mentioned were at the other side of the mall. Knowing her destination, Tori started to move. "I know where they are."

They had gone a few feet when Tori asked out of the blue. "Why aren't you mad at me? For doing that."

Jade cracked her neck. "You thought I would be?"

"Yes, after all I was interfering in your business. From what I've gathered, you don't like anyone in your business."

"So you've heard."

"Yeah."

Jade sighed. "it's not easy for me to deal with people anymore. It's hard just for me to admit that. I don't know how to deal with people anymore. I've been blind for 14 months and…" A very frustrated sound Jade said, her voice trailing off.

Now Tori felt it was the right time to ask. "Can I ask you what happened?"

"Is there a bench nearby. I just want to sit down."

Tori spotted one. "I'll guide you." Tori carefully guided Jade to a bench where she sat down. Tori then parked her chair next to the bench.

Jade paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "I suffered a stroke. I always thought if it as something that only happened to old people. In fact, many young people every year suffer strokes for various reasons every year. A lesson I learned the hard way. Did you know that Jessie J the singer, has had a stroke? Hers was a result of heart condition. I had an aneurysm and it caused a stroke. Most of the time if you have a stroke that affects your vision, it will only wipe out part of it. Mine was a bit more uncommon. It hit just in the right place and wiped out my vision entirely. I used to have perfect eyesight. Now I can't see anything and I never will."

Tori felt bad for Jade. She in listening to the Goth's story, could hear the pain in her voice as she told it. She could have said, I'm sorry or something like that, but Tori knew that jade's heard that more times than she can count. Instead, she pushed her own fears aside and told her story.

"We were coming back from eating out. Nothing fancy, it was just a Denny's. A long haul truck driver, had pushed himself too hard and driven too long. The police say he fell asleep at the wheel. His truck hit our minivan and sent it down an embankment. I was 12."

Like Tori, Jade could hear the pain in Tori's voice, a lot of it. She wanted to say something that would help, but Jade couldn't think of anything. She could never think of anything to say anymore. Anything polite, anyway. Most of the time it didn't bother her even remotely, today it did. Not wanting yet another awkward silence, Jade abruptly stood up.

"Looks like fate's been unkind to both of us. Come on, let's do some shopping."

**While very uncommon, strokes can happen in young people. Jessie J did indeed have a stroke at the age of 18 and was caused by a heart disorder she suffers from. They even can on occassion, be fatal.**


	9. The Mall - Part 2

**Disclaimer: The show, Victorious and its copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of fate**

**Chapter 9 – The mall – part 2**

**Bit of a short, but tense chapter today.**

**Tori's POV**

Jade and I quietly started to move down the mall. I rolled my chair and she just held onto the handle,. It was a midafternoon on a weekday, so the place was rather sparse. I could see a few elderly power walkers and a couple bored housewives, milling about. I felt good being with Jade, but she still seemed very guarded. I know I got her story out of her, but that was only a foot in the door at best.

As we continued, Jade kept doing the starring bit. That did elicit some odd looks from the various passerby's. I hoped Jade would stop doing it, but she seemed to enjoy annoying people. I just kept quiet and hoped she would stop. I found it rather embarrassing.

I started to talk about school and tried to update Jade on what her friends have been up to. I knew that she'd not been talking too them a lot. She seemed to listen quietly, but said little else.

"Here we are, Hot topic." I said, stopping before the store.

Jade nodded. "Good, I'd like some black t shirts. If you could describe what designs are on them I would be very grateful."

It was strange, she was being nice to me but not to anyone else. "Sure Jade, the T-shirts are on the wall in the back."

I led her into the back and started to describe the various t shirts. "Ok, the first one is black and has a skull and horns of a bull. The caption in white letters says, Your favorite band sucks."

Jade smiled. "I like that one a lot, I'll take a size 8"

I described several more, all of which Jade hated, when a young sales woman came up to us. "May I help you. We're having a sale on all jean's today. 5% off."

Jade looked to the girl. "Ooooh…5% off, whoopee fucking doo. Go play with yourself somewhere else."

The sale's girl mouth dropped open in shock. After shaking my head in dismay, I looked to the girl. "Thank you. We'll give you a shout, if we need something."

The girl nodded and quickly moved off; vanishing into the back of the store. I went through several more t-shirts. She eventually found another one for the band "Sleeping with Sirens" that she liked. After that, she seemed to lose interest in t-shirts.

"I found to 2 I like. That's enough for me. The rest suck."

I found one I liked for Taylor Swift, but it was up high out of my reach. "Hey Jade could you grab a shirt for me. It's on the wall about 3 feet ahead of you and it's on a shelf just above your head."

Jade nodded and found the one I wanted. "Thanks jade. I hate things I can't reach."

"Glad to be of service. " Jade said with a quiet smile.

After looking at the rest of the store for a few minutes, we moved to the counter and Jade paid for her shirts with a credit card. I paid cash and we started to move on to the cd Store.

"You know, that sales girl was just trying to help." I said as we exited the store

"So."

"You didn't have to be so rude to her."

Jade immediately stopped and glared at me. "So I'm rude now."

That comment for some reason ticked me off. As much as I liked to be with Jade, I didn't want to be embarrassed anymore. "You know what Jade, you have been rude. Not just to her but the people you pretend to stare at. Not to mention whenever you bump into someone, you never say excuse me or pardon. You're rude a lot to people at school."

Jade seemed to fume silently for a moment. I don't think she's used to people talking back to her. Actually I'm not sure, if anyone has ever talked back to her. "Now I'm just a bitch! Aren't I? Why don't you just come out and say it."

"I never said that Jade. Look I'll be straight here. You seem to like to annoy people and push them away. You do everything in your power to isolate yourself, WHY?"

Jade huffed , grabbed her cane and held it up. "This is why! This cane and everything it represents."

I suspected as much. "You're mad because you're blind. Mad at the world? Because they can see and you can't." I said, not backing down.

"YES!" She spat out, angrily.

I finally had enough of her bullshit. Someone needed to just put it out there and not pussyfoot around. I suspect people have been doing that for a long time. "THAT'S A STUPID REASON TO BE MAD, JADE!"

Jade only seemed to grow angrier. She whipped of her sunglasses and stared at me intently with sightless eyes. "I wanted to be a film maker Tori. I wanted to make horror films. I love horror films. Now I can watch them or see them. My dream is dead. Not only that, I never know where anything is. It's like always being lost."

"So because you're pissed off at the world, you need to inflict as much pain on it, as you can. Don't you? You friends care about you, they worry about you. But you've driven them off too."

Jade back up a step. "Yes. I thought out of everyone, you'd would actually understand. You obviously don't. I don't need you. I don't them, my brother or my sister or my parents or anyone else."

Hearing the words sister, hit home and caused my temper to start to boil over. "You have lots of people that care about you, why I don't know. But all you want to do, is hurt people now. No I don't understand. Even without your sight, you're a wonderful singer and actress. But you're too busy wallowing in self-pity, to see it."

"Fuck You!" Jade hissed, as she started to walk off cane ahead of her.

As she walked off, I rolled behind her. "How dare you be angry. You have not right to be angry Jade. No right at all."

Jade stopped and spun around. "Oh are we comparing injuries. Your two useless legs are more rank higher, than my two useless eyes."

That was it. I hate getting angry, but I was past the point of no return as I simply exploded. "NO JADE, YOU STILL HAVE PARENTS AND A SISTER. DO YOU THINK I GIVE A SHIT ABOUT MY LEG'S JADE? Well I DON'T. WANNA KNOW WHY? MY MOM AND SISTER WERE IN THAT VAN TOO. MY MOM DIED INSTANTLY, MY SISTER DIED IN THE AMBULANCE ON THE WAY TO THE HOSPITAL. "By now I was very upset thinking about them and tears suddenly sprang from my eyes. "I come home every night to an empty house, because my dad works late. My sister isn't watching TV and my mother isn't making dinner, They're dead and buried and I miss them every day. All I want in the world is to have them back. All I can do, ever do to cope with the pain, is to do my best, be good person and make them proud. You know I thought we could be good friends, but your too busy feeling sorry for yourself. You make me sick."

With that I spun my chair around and rolled away. I didn't bother to look behind me. If Jade said anything, I didn't hear it. Tears in my eyes, I made a beeline for the exit and the bus stop beyond.

A short while later, sitting on the bus heading back to school, I tried to think of what my mom would say to try and cheer me up. Would she say I did the right thing in telling Jade off? I just don't know what she would say.

My heart aches to know, that I never will.

**I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. So Tori let Jade have it. She got tired of Jade inflicting pain on the world because she lost her sight. Tori's pain obviously runs much deeper and she copes by trying to make her mom and sister proud. How will Jade react to this outburst? **

**We will find out soon.**


	10. Soul Searching

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else.**

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 10 – Soul Searching.**

**No One's POV**

After getting the full brunt of Tori's anger and pain, Jade just stood there in a state of shock. Her mind simply couldn't process all the information, and feelings that had just been heaped upon her. As strong as Jade's defenses were,, Tori's word's had slashed right through them like a sharp knife. The words had cut both deep and inflicted great pain. After a few moments, she listened and could not hear the tiny squeak of Tori's wheelchair.

She realized that she'd been abandoned. But that only half registered in Jade's paralyzed mind.

"Home." Jade mumbled, as she started to make her way in the direction. Fortunately she remembered the exit was. Since her blindness, she had gotten good at keeping a mental map in her head of wherever she was.

As Jade kept going, the shock persisted. No one had confronted her like that. They had all shown nothing but sympathy and kindness. Tori had been the first to stand up to her. Within a few minutes, she had reached the automatic doors and the slid open in front of her. The warm breeze she felt on her face meant she was going in the right direction.

Remembering the bus stop was just down the sidewalk, Jade walked there. When her cane hit the corner of the bench at the bus stop, she knew she made it. Sitting there waiting for the bus, she tried to comprehend the pain the Tori must have felt.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the arrival of the bus she needed to go home. In a service to the blind, the city busses have announced the route numbers over a small speaker as they arrived. This bus was the one she needed.

Jade, carefully stepped on the bus and pulled out her purse. She ran her bus pass through the card reader and as she moved back she heard the voice of an elderly man say.

"There's an empty seat to the right of you."

One upon a time, Jade would have had a snippy reply. But now, in a state of shock, she merely said thank you and sat down. Jade just wanted to go home and lay down. Try and think and sort out how she felt. This bus would drop her off 4 blocks from her home. With each step of her walk, the shock seemed to fade. However, she gradually began to feel very depressed and sorry.

Just under an hour later Jade arrived at her front door. She knew it was hers, as hers was the 4th driveway. Upon entering the home, her mother poked her head out of the kitchen.

"Jade, you're home early? Are you ok?" She said, sounding a bit concerned.

Jade paused for a moment. "It's just a bit of a headache. I'm going to lie down.

Jade could hear her mother come closer. "A headache….Are you sure it's…"

"No, it's just a headache. A garden variety headache, nothing to worry about." Jade's stroke, started as sudden and rather severe headache. "

"Well, you know where we keep the aspirin, Medicine cabinet, top shelf, on the right.

_"Mother died instantly." _Tori's voice seemed to breeze through her head.

In the last year, Jade had rarely said thank you for anything. Her family let her get away with it, as they felt bad for her. Today she said it, without hesitation.

"Thanks Mom." Jade said softly.

"Well, I was supposed to show 2 houses this afternoon, but they both canceled. So, having time, I bought a roast and we're having that for dinner. It should be ready about 6:30."

Jade nodded and made her way upstairs. She got to her room, entered, shut the door and sat on her bed.

Then she listened. Her brother was living in the UCLA dorms so he wasn't around, her younger sister was still in school and her mom was downstairs. So she heard nothing.

_"I come home every night to an empty house."_ Again Jade could hear Tori's voice in her head. In fact, a whole series of thoughts and voices suddenly rushed through her head.

_"Died on the way to the hospital."_

This time it was the doctor, some 14 months ago. _"I'm afraid your blindness is permanent, Miss West_."

_"blindness,"_

_"Paralysis"_

_"Death."_

_ "Hatred"_

_"Silence."_

_"Anger"_

_"Self pity"_

_"Pain."_

_"You make me sick." _Those words stung, every time Jade remembered Tori saying it.

Jade tried to picture Tori sitting at home, alone in an empty house. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt. It was a growing feeling of nausea in her gut that wouldn't go away.

Eventually she got up and walked to the full length mirror that was on the back of her door. No longer of any use, Jade had never bothered to remove it. Standing in front of the mirror she imagined her reflection.

What she saw in her mind's eye, thoroughly disgusted her. A person who had become so consumed with self-pity and bitterness that she had truly blinded herself.

Jade's hand's began to shake as she sank to her knees and began to sob uncontrollably. Now an emotional mess, Jade moved to her bed and continued to cry. She cried for almost an hour as her pent up emotions came pouring out. After that she just lay there, thinking of how terribly she had treated everyone. She also tried to think of how she could even begin to apologize to Tori.

It was then she heard something. It was faint music coming from her sister's room next door.

"Sister, I still have a sister." Jade said as she moved off the bed and headed to her door. She felt a need to go there, say something. She wasn't even sure why.

A moment later she knocked on the door. A second later she could feel a rush of air and the sound of the door open.

"I wasn't in your room Jade." Hailey West, Jade's 11 year old sister said quickly.

Jade started to feel worse than she already did. "I didn't say you were. I just heard the music playing."

"Oh…I'm sorry I'll turn it down." And a second later, jade could hear the music turn down. Though Jade didn't think the music was very loud at all.

"No…it's not that. I was just curious what it was. That's all." Jade said cautiously.

"It's the new Beyoncé album. My friend Kendra borrowed it to me." Jade could hear it in Hailey's voice, it was a register of surprise. Jade knew why too, in the last 14 months, off all the people to get the brunt of Jade's anger it was frequently her sister. Though Jade never struck her sister, she was very intolerant of any disturbance the girl made. From playing Justin Bieber up too loud, to touching any of Jade's things.

"She's afraid of me." Jade thought as her stomach suddenly felt like it was full of sand. She was never very close to her sister, even before the blindness. But since, Jade had done her best to make Hailey miserable. As it all gradually came into focus, Jade realized more and more she had been a total ass. Instead of working through the pain and trying to overcome it, she had merely inflicted it on everyone around her.

"It doesn't sound too bad. I'll just leave you alone."

As Jade was about to back off, she heard her sister say. "Are you ok, Jade? You look a bit upset."

Jade searched for an answer, but none came. She told the same story she told her mom. "I just have a headache, Sorry for disturbing you." With that Jade reached out and pulled the door closed.

As she walked to the stairway, she could hear movement in her brother's room as she passed it.

"Alex?" Jade said as she paused in the doorway.

Jade wasn't close with her older brother either, he was a sophomore at UCLA, studying architecture.

"Hello Jade." He said calmly. Being away at school, he had managed avoided his sisters wrath.

"You're here?"

"Mom is making a roast, she knows it's my favorite. She called and invited me over for dinner. It's better than the slop they serve at the dorms."

Jade nodded. Again she didn't know what to say, how to relate. It was like she had lost the ability to have a civil conversation.

"Ok. Well, I'll leave you alone."

Jade walked back to her room and sat on the bed. She looked around and saw what she always saw; darkness. But she knew it was all still there. Her dresser, desk, closet etc. Just like her brother and sister were still there.

She knew that Tori was most likely sitting alone in an empty house. For her, not everything was there anymore. Things were missing. Important things. The more Jade thought of that, the worse she felt.

That night at dinner with her family, Jade attempted to have normal conversation. She found it very hard, so she spent a lot of the time saying nothing. She decided to go with the old adage, if you don't have anything good to say, then say nothing. She had so much anger and hatred built up inside of her, she hardly knew how to handle it in any productive way.

It had also occurred to her, just how much they let her get away with. Jade figured because they felt sorry for her. She didn't want people to feel sorry for her.

After dinner she retired to her room, to think more. An important question came to her mind. What kind of person am I supposed to be? Jade knew she wasn't a very nice person to begin with. She liked making people uncomfortable and see their faces when she shocked them. But, at the same time, she had friends and enjoyed their company. She would do nice things for people when she felt like they deserved it.

But since the blindness, Jade had become a bitter, hateful, thing. She kept comparing her situation, with that of Tori's. She was paralyzed and lost her mom and her sister. Yet, she was able to take that pain and grief and work through it. Survive and thrive in spite of the pain.

"Why can she thrive and I just wither and die. Die, I didn't die, but I might as well have. I let the anger and hate into me. Let it thrive, let it eat away at my very soul. In the end, the hatred and anger would have been the only thing left inside of me. Had not Tori thrown it all back into my face. But what can I do, what should I do, I doubt I could ever face her." Jade ultimately concluded.

Jade then reached over and hit the button on her talking alarm clock that was sitting on her night stand. The voice said it was 9:48 in the evening. Jade thought for a second and walked to the window. Before she was blind, she would look out the window at night out onto her back yard. If there was no moon and most of the house lights were off, she could see nothing. The small woods behind her house, blocked a lot of the city lights. She liked looking out at the inky blackness on the other side of the window. She could imagine any Lovecraftian horror or scissor wielding maniac in it, that she liked.

Having a thought Jade, cupped her eyes and leaned up against the glass as she had done on many a night before she lost her sight. She couldn't see anything of course, but all those other nights she didn't either. There was just blackness. It was strange, but for a brief moment Jade felt like she could see again. It was as if she wasn't seeing nothing at all, but was merely seeing the inky blackness of the back yard. She felt normal for a moment, but it only served to remind her of a very important fact. That she'd been a complete ass.

The next morning, Jade was walking to her locker. Gone was the bitter hateful Jade West. Now she was the confused and rather depressed version. Still not sure of her place or what to do. As she walked, she heard Cat nearby at her locker.

Jade walked up. "Cat." She said quietly.

"Oh hello Jade. Did I do something wrong?" The red haired girl quickly answered.

Jade felt yet another pang of guilt in her stomach. "No. I did. I'm sorry."

Though unseen Cat's face registered confusion. "Sorry for what?"

Jade sighed. "Take your pick."

Jade then paused as she tried to think of something else to say. But she couldn't. It had taken all of her courage just to apologize. "See you round." Was all she said as she walked off to her locker.

Jade made a point to hurry up and get off to class. Vega would be here soon, if not already and Jade was simply too ashamed to face her.

**Well Jade has done some serious soul searching since Tori ripped her a new one. She's realized she had taken her pain and instead of working through it, just pushed it on to everyone else. **

**She's not sure what kind of person she wants to be or can be. **

**It could be said that Jade is very out of character in this chapter. She is. But at this point, she's very confused and only now, starting to deal with the pain she had been feeling. She's not sure of her place in the world and how she should face it. **

**My thanks to Invader Johnny for their suggestion**


	11. Turnaround

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 11 – Turnaround**

**No One's Pov**

Jade was torn, badly torn. Part of her wanted to talk to Tori, make things right. But she simply didn't have the courage to do so. That fearful side, would tell her. What could you say anyway? She hates you. In any case, she was deeply ashamed by what she had become. Being a rude gank is one thing, turning into a grotesque hateful thing is quite another.

So Jade just decided to avoid Tori. Though she quickly found out that avoiding someone you can't see is rather difficult. Jade did make a point to listen for the squeak of Tori's wheelchair. She did it mostly when she came to a corner. When she'd get to one, Jade would strain her ears to see if Tori was around. To see if she could hear the tell-tale squeak. If she did so, she would immediately turn around and vanish. That happened twice in that morning.

But it wasn't just Tori Jade didn't know how to deal with, it was everyone. So Jade hung her head low and just kept to herself. The morning went fine and Jade thought she was able to avoid Tori.

Tori on the other hand, still was somewhat mad at Jade. That said, she felt just a bit guilty for possibly being too harsh. Tori had said that Jade had no right to be angry. But when she calmed down, she felt she had gone just a bit too far in saying that. Jade did have a reason to be upset and angry at her vision loss. But she had no right to inflict that pain on others. That and Tori knew what Jade was doing, in not dealing with that anger, would eventually destroy her. Tori really wasn't sure if any of her words or actions would help the troubled Goth. Tori still felt an attraction and deep down very much wanted to help Jade.

As the morning progressed, she noticed she hadn't seen Jade at all. Except for one strange sight. As she was rolling up a hallway, she could have sworn she saw Jade's white cane stick out from around a corner. But as soon as it appeared, it was pulled back. When Tori turned the corner, Jade was no where to be seen.

"I must be imagining things." Tori said to herself.

It was a full ten minutes into lunch before Tori looked at Jade. She had avoided looking at Jade up to this point, as she wasn't sure what to do. But when she looked, she saw the Goth sitting there quietly read listening to music on her iPod. There was no particular expression on her face, but something in her demeanor seemed different than before.

Whatever it was, Tori wasn't sure what had changed. Then again, she wondered if it was merely wishful thinking that Jade had changed. She wondered if her words had any effect at all on the blind Goth. She eventually concluded that once again, she was imagining things.

"Hell she probably hates me more than ever. Well so much for that." Tori thought, with some sadness, as she turned her attention away from Jade.

It was a short time later, when she finally glanced in the direction of Jade's table, did she notice that Jade was gone. Though she tried to avoid it, Tori wondered when Jade left or where she went. Her mind drifted back to yesterday and what she could have done differently.

"So beautiful, so talented, so angry, so lost." Tori muttered.

"I'm sorry Tori, but did you say something." Andre asked, knocking Tori's thought process off track.

Tori simply shook her head. "No, it was nothing."

After lunch, school proceeded as normal. Jade did show up in the two classes that she was in with Tori. In each case Tori observed as Jade came in, found an empty seat and sat quietly. After each class, the Goth quickly got her stuff and left the room. She seemed to vanish as soon as she exited the room.

Tori was making her way to her locker at the end of the school day, when someone grabbed her wheelchair from behind. She was brought to an abrupt halt.

"What the.." Tori started to say, when she saw it was Ryder Daniels. Studying his expression, She could tell it was one of contempt.

"You're right, Jade couldn't have thrown that orange. I kept wondering who did. But then yesterday, I happened to see you and her leaving school together. "

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tori spat out quickly.

"SHUT UP. You and that Bitch Jade cooked up that little scheme to embarrass me. Humiliate me in front of the school. Didn't you?"

"Let go of my chair."

Ryder gripped the handle even tighter and sneered. "Or what. You going to get out of it and do something. Fat chance cripple."

Tori fumed with anger. While Jade was merely tormented by her demons, Tori realized that Ryder Daniels was simply an asshole.

"I don't have to do anything. My father is a cop and I'll add extremely protective of his daughter. If you so much as touch me, he'll have you brought up on assault charges.

"Bullshit…You're father ain't no cop. You lying bitch."

"It's the truth, and since were on the truth, I might as well, confess. I did throw the orange. You deserved, it you pea brained Neanderthal. Ok, Jade bruised your ego. So friggen what. Why don't you be a man, deal with it and just move on. Everyone has their ego bruised once in a while. Why is yours so god dam special."

Tori could see that Ryder's face grew as red as a beet. "Fuck you, I don't need no cripple to lecture me on anything. It's about time that someone taught you a fucking lesson."

At this point, Tori noticed two things. First, Ryder started to raise his hand. As if he was going to strike her. The second thing was, that Tori also saw some movement directly behind him. All of a sudden, his expression changed to one of shock and surprise.

"Daniels, what you feel stuck in your back is a taser. My dad gave it to me for protection. All I need to do is hit the trigger and you're on the floor pissing your pants. Now leave the girl alone."

"How?" she sputtered.

Jade sounded utterly pissed. "Well, your voice is very distinctive and when you're loudly threatening another student, even more so. I just happened to still be around. You were so busy bitching at Tori, you didn't notice me coming up behind you. Who's blind now fuck face. Do yourself a favor and let it drop. The next time you fuck with either of us, I won't hesitate to use this. After which, I will go directly to the office and file a complaint of harassment. Not to mention that Tori will have a nice talk, with her police officer father. Now you've been educated as the consequences of any potential actions. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

The look of shock on Ryder's face quickly morphed into one of absolute fear. A fraction of a second later, he released the chair and tore off. The sound of his quick footsteps fading down the hallway, brought a brief smile to Jade's lips.

**Tori's POV**

After a brief look of satisfaction, Jade suddenly started to look very nervous.

"Thank you Jade. I didn't know what he was going to do. What's wrong."

Jade began to look even more nervous. She started to fidget and back off. "Umm….Nothing. I'm glad you're ok. Look…I need to go. She seemed to be able to confront Ryder, but when she needed to face me she came apart. "

I sensed this maybe a chance, so I quickly grabbed her hand before she could get away. "Please Jade Don't go. Look, I know I yelled at you yesterday. I was wrong to say you have no right to be angry. You do. You have every right to be angry and upset. I am sorry. But you can't inflict that pain on others. It's not right. You need to deal with that anger in a more productive way. Otherwise it will poison you."

Jade seemed to resist my hold for a mere second, then seemed to submit. "That's what I thought." She said softy.

"Thought what?"

A single tear ran down her face. "The anger…I let it inside of me. It grew and just poisoned me. Ate everything else inside. Like a cancer of sorts I guess. I've always hid behind insults, but this was too far. I..I…I'm Sorry. I'm so sorry."

I could tell she was having a hard time apologizing, but was doing it regardless.

"Have you been avoiding me? I saw your cane once from around a corner then it vanished. "

Jade nodded. "Yes I was. I felt ashamed for being so horrible. Just now, I heard him yelling at you. I simply couldn't let that happen. As much as I couldn't face you, I couldn't let him do that."

"I really do appreciate that Jade."

Jade stood there for a moment. I think she was trying to get up the courage to say something. Whatever it was, I could tell it was hard for her to admit. All I could do is flash a supportive smile. I realized much to my embarrassment a second later, that I had briefly forgot she was blind.

"Look Tori. I'm sorry. I am so very sorry. I've been a total ass. I didn't know you've been through so much. I've been thinking about it since yesterday. It's just that I don't think I know how to even deal with people anymore. I feel so lost."

I let go of her hand, hoping she would not run away. I didn't want to. I liked holding her hand. But this is not about me, it's about helping her. Jade, made no attempt to leave.

"Jade, I want to be your friend. Friends help each other. I know that sounds corny as hell, but it's true. I know what it feels like. I can help you. I want to help you. I know it won't be easy. But I'm willing to try. Please let me. Don't think of this as a one way street. I have my bad days. I need help sometimes too." I found myself pleading a bit to let me help her.

Her face tensed up and I could tell she was weighing the factors. Should I let her in or shouldn't I. But that only was for a moment and she nodded.

I put my hand out hoping she would take it. Realizing she couldnt see it, i made a point of brushing mine against hers. To let her know it was there. It would only be a friendship. I dared not hope it would develop further. Though deep down that's what I wanted. But for now, she needs a friend and not a lover. "Friend?"

Jade took a deep breath and with a hopeful look, shook my hand. "Friend."

**Sorry this chapter took so long. I've been busy with Christmas and just didn't have the time. That and I had a touch of writers block. I would like 27milestogo, with their help on getting me past my stuck point. **


	12. First Steps

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of Fate **

**Chapter 12 – First Steps**

**Authors Note: I'm normally a much quicker updater. But my time during the holidays was limited and I got distracted by working on some other stories which I haven't released yet. I do apologize for not getting this chapter out sooner. I haven't given up on this story. Life just got in my way. **

**No one's pov**

Jade stood there for a moment thinking about the fact that she had just agreed to become friends with Tori. It most certainly was a hard thing to do, but deep down it felt right. Though she had opened the door, it was only a short distance. If Vega wanted the door opened any further, Tori would have to earn it.

"I haven't had any friends for a while. I don't supposed they changed the rules. Like we have to dress alike or something stupid like that." Jade said acidly.

"No, we just have to wear matching friendship bracelets. I made yours already, its pink." Tori said with a chuckle as she threw Jade's jest back at her.

"I DON'T DO PINK! And I don't do friendship bracelets either." Jade screeched, before she realized that Tori was shitting her. Embarrassed, Jade slapped herself on the forehead. "Well, I walked right into that one didn't I. I'm rusty at this friend and not being hostile to people stuff. I suppose you're going to have me join the others at the kiddie table, tomorrow at lunch."

"No, I don't think your quite ready to play with others quiet yet. I think I'll keep you to myself for a little while." Jade could hear Tori say in a sing-song voice. In fact, for a microsecond Jade thought Tori meant something else entirely. But for some reason the melodic tone of voice the Latina used, put Jade at rest and wasn't bothered by any other implications.

"So what now?" Jade asked.

"I have wheelchair basketball practice tonight. Why don't you come over tomorrow for dinner. My dad will want to meet you. He wants to meet all of my friends. I can't go out with anyone, until he meets them first."

"What happens if he doesn't like them."

Unseen to Jade, Tori shrugged. "He hasn't rejected anyone. I've been a bit choosy as to who I bring home to meet him however. He's very protective of me." Jade could hear Tori's voice sadden. "I can't blame him. I'm all he has left.

Jade didn't know how to respond to that. A half a dozen sarcastic remarks came to mind, but Jade just pushed them out of her mind. It wasn't easy, but she managed it. The snappy, rude or callous reply was always the first to come into Jade's mind. Like a distorted evil Jack in the box, a rude of off color reply would just pop up out of nowhere.

In this case, Jade did the right thing by giving a careful response. "That's Fine. If those are the rules, than so be it. Tomorrow night it is."

"Good, come over tomorrow. If you need to, I can have my father pick you up."

Jade could tell by the sound of her voice, that Tori was quite pleased by the acceptance of her invitation.

Jade shook her head. "No need. I'll have my father's driver drop me off and pick me up.

"Driver?"

Jade was actually rather embarrassed to admit it, but did anyway. "My family has money. More than we really know what to do with. My grandfather who had done very well with stocks already, was a major and early investor in a now giant computer company. He's extremely rich. He thought computers were the wave of the future and he was very right. My dad, is an investment banker. My mom is in real estate. She doesn't need to work, but she likes dealing with people. She said she figured she could work or drink heavily and slowly shop her way into feeble minded insanity, like most of her friends are doing. Don't worry, that last bit doesn't make any sense to me either."

"I see. My dad is a cop. He was in Robbery/Homicide but since the accident, has transferred to an administrative desk job. " At this point, Tori looked at the clock on the wall. "Oooh…I need to get going. The service he hired to pick me up will be out front in a few minutes. Do you want to walk with me?"

"Sure." With that Tori slowly made her way to the main door of the school, with Jade following next to her using her cane to guide her. As they walked Jade began to wonder exactly what Tori looked like. Knowing her last name is Vega, assumed she looked Hispanic in some fashion. But beyond that she really had no clue what Tori looked like.

Up to this point, Jade had hardly even thought of what Tori might look like. She found it odd, that just now did she suddenly wonder what Tori looked like. Jade did think Tori had a nice sounding voice and seemed very sweet. Normally sweet people bugged Jade, but Tori seemed to have a very disarming quality. Cat was sweet too, but almost too sweet. But Jade had known her since the 2nd grade, so Jade had built up a huge tolerance for the perky red head.

A Jade walked, she reflected on one fact. It was that in the last year, she had almost no tolerance for anyone. Even the most sincere attempts at kindness and friendship were met with scorn and hostility. Jade wondered what it was about Tori that allowed her to get past her defenses. Was it the fact that she was in a wheelchair or something else. Jade simply wasn't sure.

Not able to answer the question, Jade merely pushed it aside. Feeling the warmth of the sun on her face, she knew she was outside and it was probably a very sunny day.

"Jade. I just wanted to thank you again for what you did back there for me. Thanks."

Jade nodded. "You're welcome. It's the least I could do, considering how much an ass I've been."

Tori took a chance and placed her hand on Jade's arm. She had heard from Cat that Jade didn't like to be touched. But Jade didn't seem to mind. "You feel lost. I know how that feels. You do have a right to be angry. Just try to focus that on something positive. I know that sounds like a bunch of BS, but it does help. I hate to run, but my ride is here. Talk to you tomorrow."

"Later Vega." Jade said as she could hear the tell-tale squeak of Tori's wheelchair vanish off into the distance. Again she found herself wondering just what Tori looked like. She just needed to have a face to go with the voice. That need felt like a strange itch that was beginning to get worse. Sooner or later Jade would have to know.

The next morning, Tori rolled into school in a rather good mood. She was very much looking forward to having Jade over for dinner and had planned to make her favorite pasta recipe. After basketball practice the previous night, she had her dad drive her to the store so she could find the freshest and best looking tomatoes and other ingredients for the sauce.

She spotted Jade at her locker and glided up. "HI Jade. Bring a good appetite; I'm making pasta with tomato sauce and garlic bread."

"Sounds good Vega. " A smirk then came to Jade's face. "You'll be happy to know I've only purposely annoyed 2 people today. Usually by this point in the day I'm up to at least 5."

Tori chuckled. "Good to know you're cutting back gradually. Can't have you go all cold turkey on me. Might make you crabby."

"Too late. Far too Late."

"We'll if my pasta doesn't cheer you up, nothing will. Oh yeah, until then if you feel the need to annoy someone, just annoy me. I can take it."

Jade's smirked widened as she reached down where she guessed Tori's arm would be. From the sound of the voice, jade could tell Tori was right next to her. Upon touching the Latina's arm, she gave it a small pinch.

"Oww…Why did you do that."

Jade shrugged. "You said I could annoy you. Now I'm good for at least 2 hours. You just saved some unfortunate soul who would have been unlucky enough to cross paths with me, a lot of grief. You're a true friend, not only to me but to the community at large"

"Well I supposed I did ask for it, didn't I."

"You certainly did." Jade then closed her locker took a step and stopped. Tori quickly noticed a serious look form on Jade's face. "Even before me losing my sight, I was never an easy person to be friends with. I seem to have a knack for driving people away."

"You won't drive me away Jade." Tori said that not only because she was determined to help Jade, but because she held on to that glimmer of hope that maybe they could be more than friends. Jade was worth it, Tori could simply sense it. Every bone in her body told her that.

Tori could see Jade tilt her head, as if she was thinking of a proper response. "You're that determined aren't you?"

"How does old the saying go? Nothing truly worth it, is easy." Tori said with a smile, though it was unseen by Jade.

"So you think I'm worth it?" Jade said in a strange, almost weary tone of voice.

"Yes I do. "

Tori for an instant saw the hint of a true smile appear on Jade's face, before it vanished a moment later.

To Tori, it appeared as if Jade was about to say something. But if she had anything else to say, she kept it to herself. That came as little surprise to the Latina.

"Later Vega….Pasta better be good." Jade said casually, before walking off."

**Not much happened in this chapter. But Tori and Jade interacted and they took the first steps to forming their friendship. Tori deep down want's more and Jade keeps wondering what Tori looks like.**


	13. An Evening at Tori's - Part 1

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of fate**

**Chapter 13 – An evening at Tori's part 1.**

**Tori's POV**

Just like the fact there was one person at school that I really wanted to see, Jade of course, there was now one person that I didn't want to see. That person was Ryder Daniels. He was the kind of guy, the other rich assholes avoided being seen with. Just seeing him walk through school, you could see his swagger. He acted like he owned the place. Ok, his dad was some hot shot attorney and was loaded. That didn't give him an excuse to be an asshole. Jade at least has an excuse, about her being a jerk.

I have him in both my social studies and songwriting classes. The first one I have with him is my 3rd period songwriting class. Rolling my chair in I could see he was already there, though much to my relief he paid me no attention. He seemed to be trying to charm a freshman girl with his humble act.

Class went as normal, all except for one moment. I happened to glance in his direction and for an instant our eyes met. It was a bit startling. For what I saw in his eyes was burning hatred. I can only hope he stays smart and eventually gives it up. Quit while he's behind, to tweak a popular old phrase.

I just shot him a defiant look back and briefly stared him down. I had no intention of being the first to look away. A second later he suddenly looked away and refocused his attention on the teacher. Satisfied by my small victory I grinned with pleasure.

The rest of the morning was uneventful. Rolling onto the asphalt café, I saw Jade. She was sitting alone at her normal table. I got my food and rolled up to the table.

"Umm…let me guess. Sigmund Freud"

It seemed like an odd comment.

"Sorry no…Just little ole me. Why Sigmund Freud?"

Jade shrugged. "Isn't this the part where you analyze me and make me a happy person?"I could hear the sarcasm in her voice. It was too be expected. Though she wanted help, I knew she would not make it easy.

"Do you want to be happy?"

Jade turned her head and gave me a strange look. "Define happy? Some people are happy making people unhappy. Hell, some people are happy making other people dead. Do you think the Richard Ramirez a.k.a. the Night Stalker would have kept strangling people, 14 I believe, if it didn't make him happy."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. What is happy anyway, that's a good question. "Actually, how about we skip the analysis and have a normal civilized conversation."

Jade stabbed her salad. "Are you saying I'm not civilized?"

"Well, you're wearing clothes, so that counts for something. Who knows, I may be even able to take you into public someday without creating a scene." I shot back with my own dose of sarcasm. I seldom use it, but I can get my jabs in if needed. For a moment Jade seemed to glare at me. Perhaps I went a bit too far, I suddenly worried.

A smirk formed on Jade's lips suddenly. "You can keep up. I like you."

Just hearing the words I like you, made my heart skip a beat. I so want to see her naked. Naked and sitting on my lap, that's so much better. At this point, my mind quickly drifted off course as I imagined a naked Jade sitting on my lap about to kiss me. I could imagine my fingertips, running all over her smooth pale skin. It would be even more fun if I could lick chocolate off her.

"EARTH TO VEGA!" Jade suddenly barked. I was so busy mentally undressing, Jade that I had stopped listening to what she was saying. One minor benefit of her being blind, was the fact that she didn't see me turning beet red.

"Oh…Sorry." I got distracted.

"By what?" Jade's look of annoyance was suddenly replaced by a sly look. "Let me guess, some hot piece of meat."

Tori laughed. "Something like that." So as she would not ask exactly who I was ogling, I quickly changed the subject. Though I should have picked a better subject to change too.

"I saw Daniels today."

Immediately, Jade's whole body stiffened. She then took a deep breath and exhaled through her mouth. "Did he say or do anything to you?"

"No, he just glared at me from across class. We had a brief stare down. I won. I know it's childish but I don't want to give him one single victory. I don't know what his problem is."

Jade nodded in approval with a smirk. "Good Girl. If I could see, I'd probably do the same. He's an asshole."

"I worry. Actually, I think it runs deeper than that. I'm starting to think that dude has a serious fucking problem. "I dislike swearing but will do so when the occasion calls for it.

Jade leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms then reached up her left hand and rubbed her forehead with her thumb. She seemed to be thinking, after which she sat up and resumed eating. "That is a possibility. If he's smart, he'll back off and give all this up."

"I don't think he's that smart."

Jade wasn't one to show worry from what I've seen of her. But for a moment I could see it written all over her face. Strangely she began to sing a line from a song I didn't recognize.

_"After 10 long years, they let him out of the home. Excitable boy, they all said. And he dug up her grave and filled a cage with her bones. Excitable boy they all said."_

As morbid, grim and inappropriate that line would be in this conversation, I've grown to like Jade black sense of humor.

At this point she reached in her bag and pulled out a shiny pair of sharp looking scissors. While she couldn't see them, she ran her fingers up and down the blade. Again Jade began to sing what I recognized as a line from a Billy Joel song..

"_She's so good with her stiletto, you don't even see the blade."_

Just then, she shoved the scissors in her bag and resumed eating. "I already let him trip me twice and taunt me. No more."

Once again I felt the need to change the subject and we talked about music and the different artist's we liked for the rest of lunch. It was a lively but fun conversation.

As lunch ended I said. "I'll have dinner ready at 7. I live at 1245 Lynwood Court. Do you want me to write that down for you." A second later I slapped my forehead with embarrassment. "We'll that was dumb. Sorry."

"No problem. Actually do this." She pulled out her cell phone and slid it to me. "This phone has special features for the blind. It will read out any text in there, that and its voice activated. Just hit address book on the first page and enter your phone and address. That's the easiest way."

I took care of that and gave Jade back her phone. "See you at 7."

"Later Vega."

We both made our ways to class, in our particular fashion. Me in my wheel chair and Jade walking slowly with her cane. As time went on the rest of the day, my mind thought more and more about dinner. I wanted everything to be perfect, just some really good food. I was so absorbed in my thinking that I paid no attention to Ryder in my afternoon class.

As soon as I got home I started to make dinner and prepare for my guest. Though it wasn't a date, I still wanted things to go just right. I would die if anything went wrong. Perhaps I'm putting too much pressure on myself for just having a friend over but I just feel that this is important.

**No one's POV**

It was at 6:55 when the shiny new Buick town car pulled up in front of the Vega home.

"We're here Miss Jade." Said the young man who was driving.

"What does the house look like?" Jade said from the back seat.

"The neighborhood itself looks quite nice. Upper middle class, mostly. The house itself is white with red trim and of a more modern design."

"No car parts on the lawn or dogs running over the place. Maybe a half built muscle car in the driveway."

"No, Miss Jade. Other than a burger king wrapper which as appeared to have blown on the lawn, the yard looks perfect. The one car in the driveway is a van. Would you like me to walk you to the door?"

Jade hated being walked places, but was the wisest choice until she got to know the place a bit. She was trying to let people help her. On top of that, her father when she was nine told her to let the help actually help her and to not make them cry. "That would be fine thank you."

Jade and the driver got out of the car and carefully he took her by the arm and guided her up the drive. "Miss Jade, we will be walking about 10 yards up the driveway and take a left onto a sidewalk which will lead to the front door." Jade had previously asked that when she was being led, where she was going could be described so she could make a mental map in her head.

A few moments later the driver had led Jade to the door. "Do you require anything else Miss Jade?"

Jade's mind ran through the various sarcastic responses she could give. Some were quite good, she thought. "No thank you Brian. I'll call you when I need you."

"Alright then, gave a good night."

Jade knocked on the door and a moment she heard the door open up. Though she couldn't see, the wonderful aromatic smell of pasta quickly greeted her nose.

"Someone order a blind girl. You may want to get going as I do charge by the hour." Jade said with a smirk. However an instant later she realized that she had no idea who actually opened the door. "Oh…Rat fart's. Please be Tori."

Tori grinned. "That's funny, I could have sworn I ordered the moody angry Goth girl. Please come in Jade."

"You're in luck. You get two for the price of one. One girl, twice the misery. My what a lovely house you have. I love the pitch black look."

Mr. Vega came up and announced himself. "Hello Jade. I'm Tori's father, David Vega."

As cynical as she was, deep down Jade wanted to make a good impression. She politely put out her hand which he gave a quick shake. "Please let me guide you to the couch. Dinner will be ready in about 5 or 6 minutes. Tori's been slaving over the stove for at least the last hour. She's an incredible cook. We're so glad to have you."

Mr. Vega guided Jade to the couch as Tori rolled her chair back into the kitchen to finish tossing her salad.

"So you're a fellow student at Hollywood arts."

Jade couldn't resist this one. "That's what I tell my parole officer. He seems to buy it."

"JADE!" An embarrassed Tori shouted.

"Opps…Sorry I must have he a nerve there."

But Jade could hear Mr. Vega let out a hearty laugh. Jade figured that instead of kissing his ass, as she was sure many before her had done, a good dose of dark humor would be a bit more disarming. Jade however was slightly nervous, which made it harder for her to hold her tongue.

"So what are your interests?"

"Writing, singing and acting."

"Tori say's you're very talented. In fact she's been raving about you."

Jade suddenly heard Tori drop something, probably a spoon, at that very moment. The thought suddenly jumped in her mind that Tori was probably blushing. It seemed like a strange thought to just pop into her head, but Jade was certain she was right. Tori was blushing as Jade suspected.

"So what do your parents do for a living?"

"My father is an investment banker. He does some venture capitalism on the side. My mother is a real estate agent. I have a younger sister and an older brother in college. He's studying to be an architect. My sister just wants to marry one of one of the kids from One direction. I forget which one, they all look-alike to me." Jade smiled a bit at the end.

"Dinner is ready. Dad if you could please." Tori announced.

"Jade, the table is just a few feet behind the couch to your left. Do you need any help?"

"Yes, please."

Mr. Vega, guided Jade to the table and once there Jade took a seat. She then felt around so she got an idea where everything was.

Mr. Vega in the meantime took the various dishes with food and took them from the kitchen to the table. Tori rolled her wheelchair around to the table next to Jade.

"Jade, I'll pass you the dishes one at a time and of course tell you what they are. Does that work."

"Shoot."

"I'm passing you a bowl of pasta. You can put it down to the right of your plate."

Jade quickly dished a few spoonful's to her plate. "Kay…what's next."

"The spaghetti sauce." Tori said, as yet another bowl she passed a bowl to Jade. She then reached gently until her hands came into contact with the bowl. Jade then took the bowl and sniffed it. "Smells great. Though I'm not sure if it's supposed to be Black….Oh…sorry that's me."

Both Tori and David Vega chuckled lightly.

"Jade, you seem to have a good grip on your disability. I mean you can laugh at it. It's not always easy to laugh at such things."

There was a moment of silence at the table. "Sometimes I can laugh at it. Though to be honest, most of the time I just want to scream at it." Jade finally responded.

"I've felt that way too sometimes Jade. It's not easy." Tori said in a somber tone of voice.

"No. If you don't mind me asking. How long have you been blind?" Said Mr. Vega.

"No I don't. A little over a year. I started to have this migraine headache and I was walking through the living room. Suddenly I felt like someone shoved a spike in my head. The next thing I remember is waking up 3 days later not able to see. My stroke just hit me just in the right place."

Tori didn't want to dwell too much on the various tragedies of the West and Vega families so she interrupted.

"Here Jade, have some salad." Tori said quickly as she handed the salad bowl to Jade. Jade took the bowl and carefully dished herself some salad.

For a few minutes the trio simply ate in silence. Jade, not knowing what to expect, found Tori's cooking quite good. In fact she was quite impressed.

"This is quite good Tori." Jade remarked between bites.

Tori was quite pleased that Jade liked her cooking. "You're very welcome Jade."

"Tori's grown to be quite the cook."

"My mom taught me a lot. I owe it to her."

There was another moment of silence, that was broken by Jade. "So how long have you been a police officer?"

From there the conversation went quite well. Mr. Vega of course asked his usual gambit of questions that he used to "Interrogate" Tori's friends. He of course had worked out the various questions so they were asked in a casual manner. Jade handled each one with grace and actually managed to be rather charming, but not without some dark humor tossed in. But in her own fashion she managed to toss a number of questions back at him. Most of the questions were about police and police procedures. She even managed to stump him on one, about what kind of searches are legal. Tori suspected Jade was trying to confirm exactly when, where and under what circumstances she could be searched. But the conversation was lively and thing had gone brilliantly, much to Tori's relief.

"That was very good Tori. Thank you." Jade said as dinner ended.

"Thank you for coming jade." Said Mr. Vega. He then Turned to Tori. "I'll clean up Tori, I'm sure you'll want to hang out with Jade in your room. Not have the old man cramping your style. Assuming they still use that phrase." At the same time Mr. Vega nodded his approval to Tori. Jade had passed his test.

Tori smiled. "Come on Jade, you want to hang out up in my room."

Jade had to bite her tongue to avoid saying anything rude. What Tori said and in the innocent tone of voice was ripe picking for mockery. Gee Wiz, we can hang out, listen to the latest Elvis record, and play mystery date. That sounds swell, was one of the replies that coursed through Jade's mind.

"Sure, you'll have to lead the way with your chair. I'm liable to get lost on the way there."

Tori resisted the urge to squeal with delight. Everything had gone perfect. While not a date, Tori knew that they were becoming friends.

Progress was being made.

**I'm going to break up the evening into two parts. Partially because I need to work on the dialogue for the next part a bit and you've all been waiting so patiently for the next chapter. Dinner has gone well and Jade handled Tori's father perfectly. A friendship is being formed. **

**The first song lyric Jade sings is from the song, Excitable Boy by warren Zevon. I do not own the rights to that song. That lyric when he talks about digging up her bones, that is referring to the woman he killed in the previous verse.**

**The second song lyric is from Stiletto by Billy Joel. I don't on the rights to that song either.**

**The Night Stalker was a real serial killer who murdered 14 people in 84-85. He was apprehended and later died in prison.**


	14. An Evening at Tori's - Part 2

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of Fate**

**Chapter 14 – An Evening at Tori's Part 2**

**The next chaper is here. I hope you enjoy it. At the very bottom you will find a sample of another Jori story I'm thinking of writing. I'm seeing if anyone would be interested in reading it.**

**No one's POV**

"Jade, once I lead you to the stairs, you just make your way to the top while I take my lift up."

"Got it." Said Jade, as she got up and carefully moved around the table. When her hand reached out and came into contact with Tori's chair, the Latina slowly moved to the stairs.

After a moment, Jade felt Tori stop. "Ok Jade, the stairs are directly in front of you. My lift in on the left, and you just reach and grab the railing on your right.

Jade nodded, reached out her hand and held onto the railing. As she slowly made her way up the stairs, Jade could hear a slow whirring sound from behind her as the lift took Tori up the stairs. It took about a minute for the lift to reached the top of the stairs. As she waited, Jade imagined who daunting a simple pair of stairs could be for a person in a wheel chair. For Jade, it was merely a matter of getting her bearings and then just go.

Tori got to the top of the stairs and began to roll down the hallway. "Jade, we are going straight down the hallway about 12 feet and my bedroom will be the 2nd door on your left. Jade followed Tori town the hallway, all the while making a mental map of the Vega home in her head. Coming to the door, Jade waited for Tori to go in first.

Jade then stood in the doorway and cleared her throat.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry. If you enter the room and turn directly to your right. My bed is straight ahead. That's probably the best place to sit. I forgot, I don't have a chair in here anymore. Not much use for one."

Jade walked in slowly and found the bed where she sat down. Tori moved around to the door then closed it.

"I think your decorator ripped you off." Jade said with a smirk. "Terrible shade of pink."

Tori gasped. "How did you know my walls were pink?"

"You seem like a pink person to me. I'd imagine the bedspread I'm sitting on is probably a pastel color, either that or purple."

Tori rolled her chair up next to the bed where Jade was sitting. "It's a pastel shade of green. Dam your good."

"I know."

Tori merely laughed.

"So tell me Vega. Did I pass the test?"

"With flying colors."

A rather smug look came to Jade's face. "I can turn on the charm when I choose."

"If only you'd do that more often. People might actually like you."

"Who says I actually want anyone to like me."

"You wouldn't be here if you didn't."

Jade merely scratched the back of her neck and pretended to look around.

"You know, most people I bring to meet my father..."

"Royally kiss his ass?"

"Not quite the way I'd put it, but an accurate description none the less."

Jade chucked. "You thought I'd go all Eddie Haskell on you."

"Eddie Haskell?"

Though blind, Jade gave Tori an incredulous look. "You have not heard of Eddie Haskell? You know Leave it to Beaver, haven't you ever seen it?"

"Heard of it, never seen it."

Jade shook her head in dismay. "Well Eddie Haskell was a friend of the older brother Wally on the show. He was a self-centered, rude, jerk. But whenever he got around adults, he became the model of courtesy, politeness and brown-nosing. Oh gee Mrs. Cleaver that's a lovely dress you have on today, that kind of thing. It was a total snow job. The funny thing is, that Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver never bought it. The character is actually quite brilliant, he's considered one of the best characters in TV history."

Tori thought for a moment. "I think I saw a bit of him downstairs."

"Guilty. I think my performance downstairs, was partly me, partially my nervousness, partially Eddie Haskell and a bit of pure acting.'

Tori briefly considered ribbing Jade for admitting she was nervous. She quickly decided against that, figuring that even admitting nervousness was difficult for Jade.

"I know it's still not easy for you to deal with other people. I can see you put a great amount of effort to impress my father. I'm very grateful. Thank you."

Jade put her head down and remained quiet for a moment. It appeared to Tori that she seemed to be deep in thought for a moment.

"It's funny….I don't even know what you look like." It had struck Jade just then, that she went through all this effort for someone she's never seen. To Jade, Tori is just a friendly voice and warm personality. She just had to know what Tori looked like. As hard as it was to open, up Tori's voice made it easier.

"Do you want to know?"

"Yes, actually."

"Well if I could stand, I'd be about 5'9", 5,10" maybe. I probably weigh around 120 pounds."

"What color hair?" That was something that bothered Jade a lot not knowing.

"Brown, mostly straight, just down past my shoulder blades."

Slowly a picture began to form in Jade's head.

Tori suddenly perked up. "Wait…Have you ever seen the TV show Vampire dairies? I mean before you lost your sight?

Jade nodded. "Yeah a couple. I thought it was stupid. Not nearly enough people getting killed. Why?"

"I've been told, with all due modesty, that I look like Nina Dobrev who plays Elena. I've also been told I look like Lola on Zoey 101, but I really don't see the resemblance there."

Jade's eyebrow ticked up. "With all due modesty, my foot. You're comparing yourself to a heavy hitter there." Jade considered Nina Dobrev to be quite attractive.

"It's just what people say. You can feel my face if you like. That is what blind people do, don't they?"

Jade couldn't resist. "No, actually we lick faces, it's much more accurate." After a quick chuckle, Jade got a bit serious. "Yes I'd like to."

"OK, I'll move just a bit closer." Tori then inched her chair slightly closer to Jade and was now facing her.

With a strange feeling of nervousness, Jade reached out her hands. They found her left shoulder first. But instead of going for the face, Jade reached and felt Tori's hair. Taking time to examine how soft it felt and just how long it was. With each passing second, Tori could feel her heart begin to beat faster.

"Hair long, silky and brown," Thought Jade.

Then Jade carefully moved her fingers to under Tori's jaw and began to feel the skin. "So soft and smooth." Thought Jade.

Jade then slowly and gently moved her finger tips up the side of Tori's face. Tori's heart began to race as she felt the soft gentle touch of Jade. The Goth seemed to feel every square inch of the face, ever so slowly.

Inside Jade's mind Tori's face began to come into focus. The first thing that Jade thought that Tori did seem to resemble Nina Dobrev.

"What color are your eyes?" Jade asked softly.

Tori knew that what Jade was doing had nothing to do with sex. But the whole experience felt very sensual. She immediately started to blush.

Jade on the other hand, was feeling much the same thing. She had felt faces before, but this felt fundamentally different in some fashion. That and she kept thinking on how beautiful Tori was. She found herself feeling Tori's face longer than she needed, just because it felt right. Jade couldn't get over how soft Tori's skin felt. Even though she had finished she felt the face again, slowly running her fingers over Tori's cheeks, chin, lips, nose and everything else.

"Why does this feel right? Why is my heartbeat rising?" Jade thought to herself. Suddenly Jade noticed something. As she felt Tori's cheeks, they suddenly felt slightly warmer.

She's blushing, Jade realized much to her surprise. Not knowing what that or even her own rapidly beating heart meant, Jade abruptly stopped.

At that moment, Tori feared that she had done something wrong. Perhaps Jade could tell I was blushing or somehow sensed my heart was racing. "Were just friends, I shouldn't read anything into it. She was just feeling my face. It's wrong to think of it any other way." Tori quickly concluded. Had Jade been able to see, she would have seen a look of embarrassment and shame on her face.

After a moment Tori finally thought of something to say, though she remained a bit nervous from the experience. "So did that help you get an idea what I look like?"

Jade herself was trying to think of a proper response. She felt stupid for letting herself touch Tori so long. "What on earth was I doing? She's just trying to be a friend, it's not fair to her." Jade thought quickly.

Jade nodded. "Yes. It did. Thank you. I'd say the comparisons were fair."

"Thank you."

Still feeling a bit awkward and embarrassed, Tori wished to lighten up the atmosphere. "I'll put on some music."

"That's fine. Just no, One Direction. I hear enough of that crud coming from my sister's room."

Tori laughed. "Tell you what, I'll go old school. Some New Kid's on the Block then."

"Oh…That's sooo much better." Jade said, every word dripping with sarcasm.

"I'll just put on the radio and see what we get."

"That works."

As the music came on and the conversation turned to school and other topics, both women kept thinking about each other. While Tori was fully aware of her growing attraction to Jade, it was too much to hope that Jade could ever feel the same about her. Jade's feelings were murkier, but stirred up none the less by the close encounter with Tori. For a few seconds she really didn't know what she was feeling. In any case, Jade tried to not read too much into what happened. In fact she dismissed it as nothing.

All together, Jade and Tori spent about an hour in Tori's room and both had a good time just talking.

"Hey Tori, what time is it?" Jade asked suddenly.

"Oh…A little before 9 o'clock."

"Sorry Vega, I need to get going. I have some reading for English to catch up on. It's in braille of course, but I still need to do it." Jade said, as she pulled out her phone to call for her ride.

"No problem. Thank you very much for coming over."

Jade called for her ride and the pair moved downstairs to wait. Within a few minutes, Tori could see black town car glide up in front of Tori's house.

"You're ride is here Jade."

"Good"

"Do you need anyone to help you walk out Jade?" Asked Tori's father.

With a confident look, Jade said. "No. Out the door, turn left, 18 steps to the driveway. Turn right, head down the driveway."

"Well then. Thanks for coming Jade." He said in response.

Tori pulled open the front door. "I'll at least see you out."

Jade slowly walked out the door followed by Tori. There Jade turned round and faced Tori. For a second that strange awkward feeling from earlier seemed to return.

"Well you didn't poison me, so you must have done something right Vega." Jade said in an attempt to cover her nerves.

"You're very welcome Jade."

At this point, Jade's driver walked up. "I can walk you to the car Miss Jade."

"I can manage; just let me know when I get there."

Jade turned to Tori again, "Later Vega."

So ended Jade's evening at Tori's. While she was satisfied that everything had gone so well, Tori worried about her reaction to being touched by Jade. She didn't want to make Jade uncomfortable.

Jade left with an unsettling feeling. Not because of anything Tori had done, but her own strange reaction to touching Tori's face. A face that, as she went to sleep later on, remained firmly on her mind.

**I'm sorry I don't get these chapters out as fast as I normally have done so in the past. Time is one reason. The other is that I'm taking my time an trying to do the story right. Researching how both paralyzed and blind people live. I am neither blind nor paralyzed.**

**Off the subject, I do like science fiction. I am a geek in that regard. I've been indulging my geek side and been working on a very au victorious story placing the characters in the Original Battlestar Galactica show. Not the recent remake. Specifically in the opening movie, Saga of a Star World. I did it just for fun but was wondering if anyone would be interested in reading it. I'm taking a survey. The main characters from the show would be present, but not feature prominently. **

**I'll even give you a sample. **

**Setting: Jade is the lone Female Viper pilot in the colonial fleet. At the same time, she's one of the best. As her Battlestar and the rest of the fleet fly to meet their enemies the Cylons for peace talks. Scanners detect a wall of unidentified fighters flying towards her ship. While her commander and his peers think it's merely a Cylon welcoming committee, Jade suspects it's a trap. She and the rest of the pilots are ordered not to launch for fear of ruining up the peace talks. ****While her squadron mates, party and get drunk, hoping the war will be over soon, Jade elects to take matters into her own hands.**

**_Jade made it down to the flight deck in record time. A sickening feeling formed in her stomach to think of all these fueled Vipers and her squadron too drunk to fly them._**

**_"I'm Sorry Lieutenant, The flight deck is restricted until further notice. Commander's orders." said one of the two black uniformed Security officers that moved to block her progress. Jade smirked and pulled her laser on the two. Their faces a mixture of shock and surprise, the security men quickly panicked and ran off._**

**_"Sorry Fellas, I've got a viper to Catch." Jade said with a smirk._**

**_With them out of the way, Jade quickly ran past them toward her viper. She knew this was a court-martial offense, but no longer cared. Every bone her body told her, that those fighters approaching the ship were hostile and peace talks with the Cylons was a trap. "If I'm going to die, I'll die doing what I do best." Jade mumbled to herself._**

**_"Jade what are you doing?" Said a familiar voice from behind her._**

**_Jade spun around as she was about to get in her viper, to see her wingman Robbie. He had a very concerned look on his face. "I'm Masturbating Robbie, what does it look like I'm doing?"_**

**_"They'll toss you in the brig. You're throwing your career away."_**

**_"Better than throwing my life away!" Jade barked in frustration. "I don't care what you, The Commander or Beck tells me, we're about to be attacked and I'll be damned if I just sit here." With that, Jade jumped in her viper, put on her helmet and began start procedure. _**

**_"STOP HER!" Suddenly shouted a voice from across the flight deck. Robbie turned and could see at least 15 armed security guards running towards him across the flight deck._**

**_In the next instant, Robbie considered his possible actions. Should he stop Jade or join her? He then remembered how Jade never left him. She unfailingly stuck with her wingman and had saved his life more times than he could count. She seemed to have an instinct in the cockpit that never seemed to fail her. _**

**_That's why Robbie pulled his laser and fired several shots, both in front of and above the security men. Not used to armed resistance, they quickly scattered and took up defensive positions. _**

**_"I'm going to regret this. But my wingman needs me." Robbie said, as he hopped into his viper and fired up the engines. _**

**_A moment later, just as the security men gathered enough courage to move forward, Jade and Robbie took off. With a roar, their vipers flew out of the Battlestar Acropolis and into space. _**

**So would anyone be interested in reading this? It would a Jori story with a bit of Bade in it. I would not have it out right away as I'm working on Twist of fate and a 2nd unnamed time travel story. **


	15. At the kiddie table

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of Fate.**

**Chapter 15 – At the kiddie table.**

**Tori's POV**

It's been over a week since Jade came over for dinner and things have gone well. She's come over a few more times and we hung out. I've since discovered that Jade, though she can no longer see the screen, does enjoy TV. Though our tastes are radically different, we both enjoy Game of Thrones. Jade likes it when I describe the action going on the screen.

She's still a very angry and frustrated person. I know she tries to hide it and not show her anger, but I do try an encourage her to express it in constructive ways.

One other thing I needed to do was to try and integrate herself back into normal society. While she and I get along fine, she still doesn't do well with others. While she's cut back on purposely annoying people, she still has this wall around her. A lot of the time, she just keeps to herself.

Rolling into school in the morning I found her at her locker. I noticed right away her scowl was a bit more distinct than normal.

"Hi Jade, How are you today!" I said trying to be cheerful.

"Still blind, so everything is just as shitty as always."

"Stop that!"

"Stop what? If you mean being blind, I've tried. Hence my terrible mood." Jade said acidly.

"You know what I mean Jade. Come on what's bugging you? For real."

Jade took a deep breath and closed her locker. "You know I have the special website reader so I can surf the web. I was on last night and found out they're making a sequel to the scissoring." Jade paused while she clenched her fists in anger. "I won't even get to fucking see it."

I had to reach and grab her arm before she slammed it into the locker. She just let her arm hang there for a moment before she relaxed and dropped it.

"Look I don't like horror movies, but if it will help. I'll go with you. I can describe what's going on. I know they have descriptive services available in any case. Please Jade, calm down."

"I hate this. I feel so trapped some days." Jade said in a hushed tone.

I could hear the pain her words. It was pain I was all too familiar with. "I know, I'm trapped in this thing and I'll never get out of it."

"Shit happens, right? Life comes along and dumps misery and pain on us."

"Pretty much."

Jade seemed to tense up again. "It's all like SpongeBob."

I was very confused by her remark. "Huh?"

"My sister was watching SpongeBob this morning while I was eating breakfast. Listening to it, made me think. SpongeBob is one sadistic motherfucker. Look at Squidward. All he wants is to be alone and enjoy his art. But SpongeBob and Patrick mercilessly torment him with their stupid shit. Not to mention poor Mrs. Puff. She didn't do anything to deserve the misery that SpongeBob heaps on her every day. That's all he pretty much does, dump misery and pain on people who don't deserve it."

"I like SpongeBob." Cat said as she came by.

"You would Cat!" Jade snapped. I quickly put my hand on her arm again.

"Jade, be nice. You're only allowed to make Cat cry once a week and it's only Monday."

I then turned to Cat. "I like SpongeBob too, Cat. Thank you."

Satisfied, Cat skipped off without another word.

Jade shot me a nasty look. Though still blind, she could send a nasty look very easily. "Why am I not surprised you like SpongeBob. " Jade paused for a moment as if to collect her thoughts. "Look at Bug's Bunny, he's just chilling in his hole and Elmer Fudd comes along with his shotgun wanting to start shit. We all know that Elmer started it, so when Bug's bunny fucks him up, not only do we enjoy it but we know he deserves it."

"So you're saying that life should be more like the old cartoons than the new cartoons? Cause if you want to go old school, think of Poor Mr. Wilson who endlessly gets tormented by Dennis the Menace. I'll bet Dennis does things to small animals, when no one is looking." I made a point to say the last part in a rather accusatory and very paranoid fashion.

She paused as if to come up with an appropriate response as my comment seemed to have stopped her train of thought dead in its tracks.

"Are you trying to confuse me Vega?"

"Yes. Did it work?"

Jade shook her head.

"I will go with you Jade. Just let me know. I got to get to my locker. Oh by the way, we will be eating with the group today. Time to reintegrate you into society."

Jade scowled again. "And when exactly are you going to make me feel better? I don't like society."

"Come on be a sport."

"How do I know society even exists anymore? For all I know all the students I hear around me are just some kind of tape recording."

I chuckled. "Well it still does and you'll love it. See you later Jade."

With that I left Jade and started my day. I know that Jade is nervous about sitting with the group again. She just doesn't know how to act anymore and I understand that. But to work past her isolation and anger, she needs to do this.

The morning classes went uneventfully, save one angry glare from Ryder Daniels. I just ignored it this time. I made a point to get to lunch before Jade so she couldn't grab her old table. Parked by the lunch truck, Jade came along a few minutes later.

"Hey Jade." I said as she came around the corner.

She stopped and scowled. "I was hoping you'd forget about lunch."

"Nope."

"Oh goody, I get to sit at the kiddy table."

"Come on, it won't be that bad. Just get your lunch and I'll lead you to the table." I retorted quickly.

Jade grunted and started to make her way to the window, using her hands. I ordered first and waited for her. I could see her putting on her, I don't care face. But I knew that underneath that mask she was nervous.

I waited patiently while Jade ordered the food and got her tray. "Ok, put one hand on my chair and hold the try with the other, I'll take you to the table."

"At least I won't have to look at them."

The gang had already assembled at the table when I rolled up. "Hey Guys, Jade will be joining us today."

"Yeah Jade." Cat said excitedly.

Andre, Robbie and Beck all just said Hi. Rex remained silent, but I feared wouldn't be for long. I helped put Jade's tray down in its spot and rolled my chair up to where Jade sat down.

No sooner than we sat down than Rex had to add his 2 cents. "Well well, if it isn't Daredevil and Professor X in person."

"Grrrrrr….." Jade immediate growled.

Rex snapped back. "That growl sounded more like Wolverine actually."

Jade's whole face started to turn red as she immediately started to get up. I had to grab Jade's arm to stop her from going after Robbie and Rex. Sadly for Robbie, he was seated next to Jade

"Rex, Behave" I said sternly.

Andre chimed in, "Glad to have you back at the table Jade. I got a couple of new songs I've written lately. I think one or two of them that may fit you perfectly."

Jade seemed to relax a bit. "Thanks."

"Stevie Wonder, watch out." Rex said in a rather smug tone.

This time I didn't restrain Jade.

"That's it." Jade barked as she lurched over and grabbed Robbie. It only took a moment for her hands to come in contact with the smart ass puppet.

She ripped the puppet away from Robbie and proceeded to push her thumbs into Rex's eyes gouging them out.

"There I'm done." She said with a smirk as she handed Rex back to Robbie.

"I'M BLIND!" Rex immediately shrieked. "I CAN'T SEE! CALL 911, GET ME AN AMBULANCE."

"OK!" Cat said as she pulled out her phone and started to dial. Beck quickly stopped her.

"Let's not call 911 and say we did."

"Get me to the nurse" Rex shrieked at Robbie who immediately complied and ran off with him.

I could have restrained Jade again, but Rex was asking for it.

"Poor Robbie, he's defiantly got issues." Andre said as he took a bite to eat.

With a look of confusion Cat stated. "It's not Robbie, It's Rex who's the problem. He's needs to be nice to people."

"I knew I should have stayed at my table." Jade muttered, as she stabbed her salad with a fork.

Beck quickly changed the subject and we started to talk about the new play that Sikowitz was putting on. Jade remained mostly silent during the next part of lunch, speaking only two or three times. I could tell that she was uncomfortable and would need time to adjust. She just seemed to be a bit more tense than normal. It also didn't help that when Ande, Cat or Beck spoke to her, they were very cautious in what they said. The conversation seemed to flow, but very awkwardly. Robbie and Rex showed back up about 10 minutes before lunch ended. Rex had a small white bandage around his head that covered his eyes.

"Stupid Nurse." He said as she sat down, looking rather grumpy.

"Huh?" Said Beck.

"The nurse wouldn't help Rex, I had to go across the street to the drugstore, get the bandages and do it myself."

"You're a terrible nurse. I nearly died." Rex retorted.

"I did the best I can." Robbie said back quickly in defense.

"I should have called 911, Now I probably won't get…." Rex started to say, before the intense angry glare I was giving Robbie shut him up.

I continued it a few seconds longer to make Robbie well aware that I wasn't pleased with Rex or his behavior.

Jade started to get up at this point, as she had finished her lunch. "Come on Vega."

I'll admit, I liked it when she said come on. She wanted me to come with her, go with her, be with her, what's not to like about that.

Jade got up from the table and with her cane took the lead. She seemed to know where the garbage was and found it. I think she has the layout of the cafeteria memorized. She remained quiet until we got in the school.

Jade took a deep breath and exhaled. "I hate Rex."

"He is a pain isn't he?"

Jade raised her fist in the air. "He and Robbie, one of these days, Pow! Right in the kisser."

I couldn't help but smile at the classic TV reference. "Come on Ralph, we'll be late for class."

Jade suddenly stopped and looked at me, looking rather puzzled. "How come you've never seen Leave it to Beaver but I toss out a Honeymooners reference you get it right off."

"My grandpa liked watching it. I remember seeing it with him a couple of times when I staying over at his house. It was kind of funny. I saw the one where Ralph thought he was inheriting all the money from the rich guy. Instead all he got was a bird named, my fortune."

Jade smiled, reached down and put her hands on my shoulder. "There's hope for you yet."

Once again Jade made me feel special. "Thank you."

"Just one more thing Tori."

"What's that?"

"Never call me Ralph again." Jade said in a rather chilling voice.

I wasn't sure if she was kidding, but decided not to take my chances. "Got it." I paused for a moment, then spoke again. "You did good."

Jade for a moment let the mask drop and I could see the worry in her face plain as day. "Thank you. I just don't know how to deal with people anymore."

"You don't have to be some social butterfly, you just have to be there and you were. Even though you gouged out Rex's eyes, but he doesn't really count."

At that very moment, they suddenly could hear Rex's voice down the hallway. Looking they could see Robbie holding Rex, with Rex trying to impress some blonde girl.

"Since I lost my sight, all my other senses have improved. I can tell…" They could hear Rex say confidently, before Robbie and him walked out of earshot.

I looked to see Jade just standing there, with an unreadable expression.

"Forget him…Let's go."

Jade nodded. "Ok…But next time, I'm gouging Robbie's eyes out."

Jade's come along way, but still has some ways to go. But I know now that she is beginning to trust and depend on me. That means a lot to me and I can only hope it means a lot to her.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, things will start to move very soon. **

**I'm going to hop up on my soap box for a moment. You know, I haven't had any of the stories I've been following updated in at least 4 or 5 days. I know lots of you authors out there are busy with life and all in it, I do urge you to continue your writing. Some of these stories are very good and lots of people are dying to know what happens next. You don't have to update every day or every week even, just don't give up on your stories. Your readers will appreciate that.**

**Me, I'm writing and will continue to write. In the last chapter I mentioned a story I was working on that crossed over with Battlestar Galactica. I'm working on another Jori story with a sci-fi twist. It is a bit AU and involves time travel. That will probably be the next one after twist of fate. **

**Till next time….**


	16. Closer

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Twist of Fate **

**Chapter 16 – Closer**

**AN: I've had some writers block on this story so that's why the chapters have not been coming so fast. I would like to thanks 27milestogo for their suggestions that greatly helped me get unstuck.**

**Jade's POV**

It's been 5 weeks since Tori brought me back to the normal table my friends sat. She's been working very hard helping me to adjust to being blind. I think that while I had gotten the hang of how to be blind, I hadn't ever properly adjusted to being blind. I was so full anger and bitterness that it was simply strangling me.

While I've slowly connected with my other friends, Tori had become my very best friend and we've become very close. Don't get me wrong, we still argue and have tons of differences. But I feel a special bond with her. Not just because we're both disabled. That in itself is a bond yes. In a sense I've become her legs and she's become my eyes. I know it sounds silly, but we do help each other. There is more to our bond than us being disabled, I know it. Just hearing her perky voice or smelling the strawberry body wash she uses normally, makes me feel better. It makes me not feel alone and isolated, like I usually do.

I just like being with her. I also find myself thinking about her face a lot. Ever since that night I felt her face, I just keep thinking about how beautiful she looks. I've even begun to have serious doubts about my sexuality. Do I really like her?

The problem is that none of it really matters. She just thinks of me as a friend and is just trying to help me through my trouble. Me misreading her intentions, would be unfair to her. Not that being unfair is something I normally concern myself with, but for Tori it's different. She's a good friend and I just need to put aside any other errant feelings.

Today I find myself concerned with her. While she's made no indications of anything being wrong, there's something in her voice the last few days that tells me otherwise. It's been going on the last 2 days. I don't think its Ryder Daniels, he hasn't bugged either one of use. However Tori tells me that, while he's done nothing, the look of hatred in his eyes hasn't diminished. It's almost like he's waiting for something, the right moment to strike perhaps. The guy's a total loon if you ask me.

Today I'm going to find out what's bugging her. I got to school and grabbed my braille school books out of my locker. Usually Tori comes and finds me right about this time. But she doesn't and I finish at my locker without her showing up. I find myself nervous when I don't know where she is. I hate to admit that but, it's true.

Using my cane I made my way to where I know Tori's locker is, but she wasn't there. Leaning up against it, I waited for a few minutes until I had to leave for class or I'd be late. This wasn't normal for Tori to be so late and I found myself getting a bit nervous.

Not able to do anything about it, I went to class.

**No one's POV**

Jade during the first part of the morning, listened for the tell-tale squeak of Tori's wheel chair in the hallway. She did not hear the sound at all. After 2nd period Jade asked Beck if he had seen Tori, but he hadn't.

It was just after 3rd period that Jade did hear it off at one end of the hallway. Turning in that direction, Jade made her way to the sound she had been looking for.

Tori was moving along, lost in thought when she saw Jade coming up to her. She had an impatient, almost annoyed look on her face.

"Where were you?" Jade said with a noticeable amount of irritation in her voice.

"I had something to do?" Tori said in a solemn voice.

"Ok Vega. Out with it. You've been off for the last 2 days. Something's bugging you, I know it. Is it Daniels?"

"No…It's not him."

"Than what?"

"Don't worry Jade, it's nothing and will pass. I don't want to pull you down too."

Jade seemed to grow angry, reached out and grabbed Tori's wheel chair. "Look, you were the one that brought me out of my darkness. You made me start to care about people, you especially. Don't give me that, I'll bear those burdens myself shit. You can't make me care, then just shut me out. It's just not good to bottle things up anyway, isn't that what you taught me."

Jade could hear Tori's sad tone of voice, clear as a bell. "It's Trina's birthday today, she would have been 19. She loved birthdays. She was always so excited when her birthday came around. She loved having parties. I just get a bit depressed around her birthday. In some ways, it's worse than the anniversary of the accident. I didn't want to bother you with my mood. My dad and I were visiting her grave this morning."

Jade quickly growled, but then realized that wasn't helpful. She also realized the bell was about to ring. "Look Tori. I guess you need to try to remember the happy times or something. Trina wouldn't want you to be all depressed on her birthday."

Jade was trying to help, but it came out too fast and sounded too harsh. She wanted to say more but the bell rang.

"Thanks Jade." Tori said, sounding only slightly less sad than she did earlier.

"Look Vega, I've got to get to class. I'll see you at lunch." Jade said as she made her way down the hallway.

Jade got to lunch a few minutes late, as she needed to discuss something with the teacher immediately after class. As she made her way up to the table, she could hear Tori talking to Beck.

"You did seem a bit down in the last day or so. It's understandable your sister's birthday would get you down." Beck said in a calm voice.

"Yes."

"For those no longer with us, it's important to keep them alive through the good memories we have of them. That way they never truly die. Do yourself a favor and think back to your most fun birthday you remember Trina ever having." Jade could hear Beck thoughtfully say, as she sat down."

Tori thought for a moment and perked up."Trina'a 7th birthday. We went to Chuck E Cheese. We had a blast."

"See. Think of the good times. You can't celebrate her birthday anymore, but you can celebrate her life. The best way to do that is to be happy. Make this a fun day. I think your sister would be much happier if you do that."

"Thank you Beck. That helps me a lot."

With all eyes at the table on sad Tori and consoling Beck, no one at first noticed the rather sour expression on Jade's face as she violently stabbed her salad with a fork. "He's just saying the same shit that I said earlier. Why in the fuck does pretty boy make her happy when I can't" Jade found herself thinking bitterly.

But Jade's expression was soon noticed.

"Hey Jade. What's the deal? You look a bit more pissed off than you normally do. Did you not get to strangle any kitties today?" Rex said sharply.

"Please tell me you didn't hurt any kitties." A suddenly tearful Cat said.

Jade's temper went through the roof, but the Goth somehow was able to restrain herself. "Robbie. Shut that thing up or I'll shut you up. Permanently." Jade hissed in an extremely venomous tone of voice.

Beck, having dated Jade, recognized that as her "Go one step further and I'm seriously fucking you up" tone of voice.

Beck was about to tell Robbie that he and Rex were now on very thin ice, but the curly haired boy seemed to get the message. "Rex, Don't make me put you in the box." He quickly warned his puppet, looking very nervous.

"Jade?" Tori said with a note of concern in her voice.

Jade realized that she had let her jealousy get the best of her and felt very embarrassed about it. "Tori just gets to me. She's just a friend and I need to remember that." The Goth thought to herself.

Jade, though she had told Tori to be open, decided to not follow her own advice and lie. "I'm fine. It's just some shit for a paper I'm working on. Teacher didn't like my first draft. He said it wasn't objective enough. And no Cat, I didn't hurt any kitties."

Things quickly returned to normal at the lunch table and conversation quickly drifted to other subjects. Jade remained mostly quiet, her mind being on her growing feelings for the Latina. She didn't want to admit she was falling for her, but deep down she knew it. She wanted to make a better effort to be there for Tori as she felt her first attempt to cheer her up failed miserably.

It all left Jade confused and not really sure how to proceed. The thing was that in many respects, Tori felt the same way. Only she was fully aware of her feelings. Tori like Jade, was very afraid of ruining probably the best friendship she ever had.

As they were leaving lunch Tori said. "Hey Jade. Won't you come over tonight? We can have a good time and…"

"Have a good time like Trina would have wanted us to have." Jade said, interrupting Tori.

"Yes. Very much so."

Jade arranged for her families driver to drop them her off at the Vega home at 6:30. Tori's dad was still on duty, so Tori just made a pizza and they just hung out.

They were having a good time listening to music and talking and that Jade could hear it in Tori's voice, how she felt so much better. That made Jade feel better herself.

"It wasn't a grand celebration, but I think we had a good time." Jade remarked.

"Yes. I think Trina would be pleased."

Jade hated to ask, but some part of her wanted to know. "You don't have to answer, but do days like this make you remember the accident more?"

Jade could hear a long pause and she quickly found herself regretting the question she had just asked.

"I don't remember the accident at all." Tori said with a very sad tone of voice after the pause.

A puzzled look came to Jade's face. "I'm sorry Tori, but I would think that not remembering it would be a good thing." Jade cursed herself for even getting into this subject. "Know what. Forget it. We're supposed to be having a good time and look at me. I fuck up by bringing up a sore subject. Let's just let it drop. I'm sorry."

Jade had been sitting on the bed and knew that Tori was sitting about a foot away. Suddenly she felt the bed shift and realized that Tori had managed to slide over next to her.

"Can I tell you something Jade?" This time, the voice sounded even sadder.

Jade was tongue tied for a moment. "Perhaps we should let this drop. You know me. I eventually mess up every conversation with some stupid comment, threat or poor choice of words."

"No Jade, Please. I need to talk about this. I've kept it in for so long." Tori said sounding very upset. In fact the Goth was sure Tori was crying.

Jade sensed that whatever Tori wanted to say, was something that greatly pained her. Maybe now I won't fuck things up. "What is it?"

Tori sighed and wiped a tear. "The accident was very severe; I was in a coma for almost 2 days. When I woke up, I not only didn't remember the accident I didn't even remember the hour before hand. That last thing I remember that day was my mom saying let's go to Denny's. It was her favorite place. We ate there all the time."

Jade sat there listening, processing it all. "As I said, maybe it's good that you don't remember. Why are you so upset?"

More tears fell from Tori's face. "I want to remember. I try to every day but I can't."

Jade couldn't figure out why Tori wanted to remember a fatal auto accident so much. "Why?"

Tori sniffled as the tears began to flow. "Not the accident itself, but the hour before it. I can't remember it. I want to so badly."

"I'm sorry I'm not following you."

"You see Jade, after the accident, I went back to the Denny's. We ate there so much we knew all the waitresses. Our waitress the night of the accident. She was there when I went back. She said she was sorry to hear of the accident and said my mom and sister were very nice."

"Ok."

"She said that she remembered that night. She said, how we were laughing and having a good time all through dinner." A now sobbing Tori, said.

"Isn't that good?"

Jade sensed that Tori was in great pain, just thinking about it. Not even giving it a second thought, she reached out and found held Tori's hand. Jade knew that Tori needed comfort. Tori seemed to accept the gesture and instantly threaded her fingers with Jades. Though she felt guilty for feeling it, Jade felt an odd thrill for holding the Latina's hand. "This is about Tori, not your confused feelings Jade." The Goth thought.

"NO, I DON'T REMEMBER IT! IT WAS THE LAST GOOD TIME I HAD WITH MY MOM AND SISTER AND I CAN'T REMEMBER IT! "Tori wailed. "I want to so badly remember one part of it, one tiny piece but I can't. I miss them so much. I want them back and I can't even remember the last thing either one of them said to me."

Jade let go of Tori's hand and quickly wrapped her arms around Tori. By this time Tori had dissolved into a mass of tears. While it may not seem significant to others, Jade realized that Tori was deeply pained by the fact that she couldn't remember the last hour she spent with her mom and sister.

For a moment, Jade's own blindness seemed to hardly matter. All she wanted to do was take Tori's pain away. It ached her heart to know that she couldn't. Only now could Jade see, just how deep Tori's pain of loss went. As much as she wanted to, there were no words she could think of that she thought would even remotely comfort her. Jade also guessed, that this was the very first time Tori admitted that memory gap was so painful to her. But Jade felt helpless, more than she had ever in her life and it had nothing to do with her blindness.

All Jade could do, was hold the sobbing Latina as tight as she could.

**Hoped you liked this installment. They are getting closer to each other. **


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